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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29515896">Not Your Stereotypical Love Story</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/UncleInTheField/pseuds/UncleInTheField'>UncleInTheField</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Gentlemen (2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>But It's Fluffy, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, I HAVE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE, I don't know what I'm doing, I still don't know tagging, I'm still figuring things out, Love Story, Mild Smut, Not a typical rom-com either, POV First Person, Slow Burn, Smut, Sorry Not Sorry, Tags might change, This is not a Fifty shades story, at least I did not want to make it that way, basically making up stuff, warnings might change</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 03:20:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>32,681</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29515896</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/UncleInTheField/pseuds/UncleInTheField</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of unexpected accidents (well actually just 2) brought two souls, from completely opposite worlds, together.<br/>Bridges were crossed. Collisions were made. Emotions were shared.<br/>And love was told.<br/>Possible violence, kidnaps, gun fights are involved.<br/>Yes, it's cliche. But hold your horses...<br/>This, is definitely, NOT your stereotipical love story. (or maybe it is. We'll see)<br/>:)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mickey Pearson/Rosalind Pearson, Raymond Smith/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p># Raymond x Female character<br/># I don’t normally do this kind of story…<br/># I was in the mood, and enjoyed it…<br/># Hope you enjoy it too.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was almost a year ago. Now when I think of it, what happened back then all seemed like a blur. As if it's a mysterious smear on the glass window. The glass looks clean and immaculate most of the time in the day, and you see everything through it as if it does not exist. However, just at some moment of the day, under some certain weather, when the sunlight hits at the right angle, you can see it. You see the smear reflecting the translucent sunlight and turning the spot in the glass into a fuzzy rainbow pattern, through which you can’t see anything outside. It is in such an anomalous manner that you can’t ignore it. Although it seems so irrelevant to your life at the time, you can’t get it out of your head. You could not help but be sucked into your memory, rummaging in your head, trying to figure out how and what happened. And out of the blue you remember. Oh, that’s what happened. How could you ever forget that?</p><p>True. How could I ever forget that?</p><p>It all happened when I was working in London for an exchange program my ex-company held. The program was to let the employees travel and work at other headquarters from where they are normally based. The program lasted for five months. And I applied thinking I was never getting in because no idiot would let go of free round-trip tickets to another country with free accommodation, and also being paid the whole time. Everyone in the company must have been submitting their application, and the chance for me to be selected would be very, very slim.</p><p>However, no offence at all for what I just said about idiots, but not many people ended up applying to the program. It made sense. Although the traveling and the free trip sounded quite tempting, it also meant that you had to be living alone and working with almost complete strangers for five months. And there was no refund in the middle, whatever happens, you were stuck wherever you applied to until it’s done. It already sounds like a lot of work, right? </p><p>On top of that, most of my coworkers at the time were only a few years older than me, meaning they might just have established a family, living with a newly wedded partner, paying for a newly bought house, and maybe caring for a little baby or a toddler. You see, on the scale of life, you have all of your comfortable and expensive life on one side, and a free but potentially disastrous work trip for 5 months. So if it were you, would it be a hard decision to make?</p><p>However, on the other hand, me, being one of the few single young ladies in the office who lives by herself with no mortgage, other than the small amount of money I pay for my car bi-monthly, with all the time and energy in the world to burn, it’s not a hard decision for me either. Although, I need to be more careful about my statement about having all the energy and time to burn, I was in my late twenties at the time. In a conventional setup, not much time was left for me. </p><p>But let that BS stay in the dumpster where it belongs. I did not care. I still don’t.</p><p>Anyways, enough of background narrative. In the end, I got in the program easily with few competitions due to the reasons I listed above. After all the paperwork was done, my departure time was set in mid summer, and I was heading for London.</p><p>The first two months was exciting and smooth, settling in my dorm, and getting familiar with my new teammates at work. </p><p>Speaking of my dorm, it’s quite nice and luxurious considering the expensive real estate in London. It’s a three-bedroom apartment on the top floor of a lovely, three-story lofter building. I shared the dorm with another two coworkers who were in the same exchange program at the time. Each of us had our own bedroom, and we shared the living room, kitchen plus dining area and two bathrooms. It was really nice, actually. It reminded me of my college life, with bare minimum privacy surrounded by walls that did not block sound at all.</p><p>My flatmates, John and Maria, were great, respectful, friendly and polite. We got along very well. However, with the setup of the apartment, personal life was almost impossible. I still remember one day John came back late at night, with another gentleman. And it was not fun at all listening to whatever they were doing involuntarily. I invested in a good pair of earplugs afterwards.</p><p>Sorry for spending so much time elaborating something seemingly trivial with almost no plot development. Trust me, the information above will tie back in the plot eventually. You can’t see me right now, but I’m giving you the most sheepish smile I can offer. Yes, please humor me.</p><p>Okay, back to the story.</p><p>Apparently the first two months went so well that I got a bit carried away and completely forgot what the good old saying from my Chinese ancestors, the sages. They said that disaster lurks within good fortune. And of course there is the other half about good fortune following upon disasters, but I was going to leave it out since that part was not really the focus. But…hey, here it is. You’re welcome.</p><p>After the first two months living like a true London lady, even the weather was nice to me, I started to get bold, and thought it was a good idea to travel to Notting Hill, alone, by myself.</p><p>Yes, you read it right. It was Notting Hill. Call me cliche or whatever you’d like, but you guessed it. I wanted to go there because of that movie where Julia Roberts delivered her famous line.</p><p>“I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”</p><p>Yes, I watched that movie at least ten times when I was a teenager. And I’m proud to say that I’m a fan of happy, cheesy Rom-Coms.</p><p>I was sure the trip was going to be great. It was only going to be a day trip. I planned to go to the morning market, passing the tattoo store, and go to the little bookstore where Hugh Grant worked so I could buy a tourist’s guide. I was confident it was going to be fantastic, even thought the Rom-Com god was blessing me somewhere for this trip.</p><p>Except I was totally wrong. There was no such thing as a Rom-Com god. And even if there was one, all he did was bringing me bad luck. When I was wandering at the morning market, probably only had been there for half an hour, someone took my bag when I took it off to try on a shaw. It right beside me. And just in a blink of an eye, it was gone. I looked around and around but no one looked suspicious. </p><p>Whoever took my bag was really good at it. At the moment in my frenzy, I could not help but wish that the person who took my bag would go big in their career and eventually got what they deserved, rotting in jail.</p><p>It was truly devastating. I had my driver’s license and wallet in the bag, with all my other precious possessions: my favorite chapstick, my leather-cover notebook (yes, a paper one), and my favorite pen. I was left with no money or identification.</p><p>As a grown-ass adult who happens to panic easily, I panicked right away, sweating, heaving, looking around frantically like a maniac. However, I soon recovered, remembering that I had flew to the other side of the world alone to study and work for 7 years, and that just a couple of months ago I flew to another side of the world by myself to work in a foreign country. </p><p>I did all those myself and survived. Hell no, I was not going to die of panic attack here.</p><p>As the will of living and high self-esteem kicked in, my brain started to work as well. I suddenly realized that I still had my phone in my pocket. I took it out and hung onto it as if my life depended on it. </p><p>Literally, it did.</p><p>I checked the screen. There was still 90% battery left. Then I opened my contact list, trying to think of someone I could call for help. I was not really close to John or Maria yet, so I thought it would be too much to call them. I could not really call my manager here either, who was my emergency contact at the time, because I did not want to bother her since it’s still the weekend. And no one back at home could be of any help. Finally, I thought of the embassy. </p><p>I was told a long time ago before I left my home country that my country would always protect me no matter where I go in the world, and that the embassy was my shelter at all times. That’s true. And also, I had to call the embassy anyways since I lost my passport. But was it really necessary to call for their rescue? It was their weekend as well, after all.<br/> <br/>As I was googling the phone number to the embassy and saw the number, a flash of light struck in my head. I remembered that I still had the daily pass for buses in my pocket as well! It was a god-sent. I found the ticket in my pocket, and kissed it as if it was my dearest lover, my long-lost soulmate. </p><p>On the way back to my dorm, I almost cried out of joy. </p><p>I did cry in the end, but out of frustration and self-accusition instead of joy. Because I had to do all the work to get new cards and new a passport. Also thinking of my pen and notebook, I felt like my love of life had died. But it was what it was. Fortunately, I am not the kind of person that would dwell on the loss for too long, instead only get bugged and weep at night for three days in a roll. Within a week, I recovered.</p><p>On the same Thursday, I went for a quick drink after work at the pub close to work with my team. It was supposed to be a quick drink. But being a young feisty lady who can talk and a daughter who inherited her father’s drinking abilities, I finally waved goodbye to my team after 11.</p><p>To be honest, I was not drunk, maybe just a little bit tipsy. And as I walked back to my dorm, which was only 5 blocks away from the pub, I completely sobered up.</p><p>No, I do not have superpower to help me dissolve the alcohol in my body. I sobered up so fast because I realized how stupid I was to walk alone on the street so late at night. I should have taken my manager’s advice and let her drive me back, instead I did a lame body-builder posture, showing off my non-existent biceps, and told her I was fine walking back alone.</p><p>I was not fine. The truth was that I was terrified. </p><p>The street light was too dim and everything out of the radius of 5 meters around me was in the dark. I could hear the real drunks mumbling in the darkness, or maybe they were crackheads. </p><p>Shit, I cursed under my breath as I sped up and at time same time reached into my bag for my mace. Just in case.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After about three minutes or so, I was only a block away from my apartment. And as I walked closer and closer, I saw someone in front of the building. I could not see clearly but only a silhouette of a man leaning against a car. He was smoking as I could see his hand reaching to his mouth and drags of smoke out of his lips. </p><p>It seemed to me that this man was waiting for someone. But I had never seen someone like him around before. Although I could not see his face clearly, I could make out that this was a bearded, tall man, possibly strong. He was wearing a trench coat and a pair of glasses. And I still remember now that I shivered as I saw the huge ring glittering on his pinky-finger as he took another drag of smoke. </p><p>Also at that moment I recognized the smell of his smoke. It had a strong reek like a skunk mixed with tobacco. Unless there was a chainsmoking skunk nearby, I was pretty sure this gentleman was a close friend to Mary Jane.</p><p>Oh awesome, another pothead in the neighborhood, I thought to myself. And as I walked almost past him, I made a decision not to get in the building but walk straight ahead and around. I wanted to hide behind the building and wait till he left. At the time it felt like the right thing to do. What if he was trying to tail someone in the building and start a killing spree? I needed to take precautions.</p><p>However, as I walked past him, he looked up and at me. And immediately I could not help but slow down. Like I said I could not help it! He was a very handsome man. I did not had much time to study his face like a scholar to an ancient sculpture, before I got flustered and looked away, but I swear to god he looked dreamy. </p><p>Nevertheless, as a person who values her life more than a hot stranger’s attention, I kept on walking, like a proud princess. </p><p>Three steps past him, I heard his voice calling my name.</p><p>“Lucy?”</p><p>Yes, that’s my name. Before you start to judge, I would just like to let you know that I chose this name myself and it was because of Lucy Liu.</p><p>Okay, roll back.</p><p>“Lucy?”</p><p>I heard my name and stopped warily. And as I turned around, my hand clenches the mace in my bag, ready to spray.</p><p>He was standing where he was, and smiling at me. Finally I could see his face. And I was right, he looked like someone I’d see in the movies. I was in shock by his beauty for a few second, before I recognized something more important. He was waving something at me. And that something was the bag I lost in Notting Hill.</p><p>The thrill of getting my life back took over me. Before I knew it, I sprinted to him and snatched the bag from his hand. I opened it and checked that everything was still inside. I hugged my bag and made a sound like a cartoon character.</p><p>Suddenly then, I remembered I was not alone and I was acting poorly.</p><p>“Sorry!” I looked up to the man and apologized.</p><p>“Thank you so much! You are my life savior!” I exclaimed, and gave him the biggest smile I could offer. I remember now that I was crying for sure. And I probably considered giving him a hug but being the lame person as I still am, I bowed instead.</p><p>“My pleasure.”</p><p>Staring at his shiny leather shoes, I heard him say quietly.</p><p>I stood straight up again and asked him, “How did you find it? And how could I thank you?”</p><p>The man smiled and adjusted his glasses, and he had really long and good-looking fingers. He looked at me and simply said, “it was complicated.”</p><p>I looked at him and batted my eyes, waiting for more. But he just kept smiling. I knew it was not my place to pry. So I nodded knowingly and asked again, “how could I thank you? You don’t know how important this bag is to me. I owe you so much! And I want to do something to return your kindness.”</p><p>He shook his head, and said, “it's nothing, really. Just think of it as a gesture of British hospitality. That’s all. No return of favor needed.”</p><p>I contemplated what he just said and the fact that he called me Lucy, which is not my name on paper. I squinted at him and asked, “wait, you went through my stuff?”</p><p>He looked taken aback, and blinked at me. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he apologized, “only to find out your address to return your bag, that’s it. And I apologize if it offended you.”</p><p>I held back a smile and shrugged, “it’s okay. I understand. But now you know my name. What’s yours?”</p><p>“Call me Raymond.” he said, lowering his head a bit as courtesy.  </p><p>I reached out my hand to him and said, “nice to meet you, Raymond. And thank you again for saving my bag.”</p><p>He looked down on my hand as if I had something in my palm. But eventually he complied and held my fingers with his, slightly waving up and down a couple of times. He had really warm fingers.</p><p>“Nice meeting you too, Lucy.” He simply said.</p><p>After that, we just stood there for a few more seconds, awkward and silent.</p><p>I really did not want to just let him go like that, but I did not know what to do. So in the end, I bit my lips, nodded to him, and bid goodbye.</p><p>“It’s late, and I should really go back.”</p><p>“Good night, Lucy.” he said with a smile, hands crossed in the front, like a sacred guardian.</p><p>“Are you sure there is nothing I can do to thank you?” I tried again. Although I really wanted to invite him upstairs but it was too crammed. See? It tied back!</p><p>But at the same time, I really hated to let him go.</p><p>“I could buy you coffee sometime? Or tea?” I asked tentatively.</p><p>Raymond pursed his lips in a rigid smile, looking at me apologetically, and said, “I don’t think that’s needed, Lucy. Go back home, and sleep tight.”</p><p>I felt like a kid being shooed to go to bed by my parents. Being a bit offended and pissed, I nodded to him one last time and turned around.</p><p>All of a sudden, I heard roars of motorcycles behind me. As I turned around, five bikes came from both directions and eventually surrounded us in a half circle. On each bike there was two men. Immediately my instinct kicked in and I stepped back as I saw that they all had weapons, machetes, baseball bats, and clubs. But thank god none of them were holding a gun.</p><p>Looking at all the people getting off the bikes and sieging closer to Raymond, I felt my throat tightened. My first thought was to flee, to run away. I knew they had nothing to do with me and I wanted to live, like a normal person.</p><p>But right then my conscience came to me, knowing clearly that Raymond was what they were here for, I could not leave him alone like that. At the moment, it had nothing to do with how god-forbidden hot he was, I simply could not leave a fellow human alone in danger.</p><p>As a normal person facing life threatening situations, I thought of calling the police. And just as I pulled my phone out of my pocket, I heard Raymond’s voice again.</p><p>“Just go. Go home.”</p><p>I looked up at him, tears blurring everything in front of my eyes. This is what I hate myself the most. I cry too much!</p><p>But still, I saw him looking back at me, eyes reassuring as if nothing was serious. He nodded and turned back.</p><p>“No! What about you?” I screamed at him. </p><p>“I will take care of this.” Raymond said without looking back, among the cursing and swearing from the thugs.</p><p>“Lads, this is out of your jurisdiction. Be clever. You don’t want to do this here.” Raymond warned them.</p><p>“Fuck ya, old man!” </p><p>“How about you be clever and kiss my ass!”</p><p>“Give us the grass back!”</p><p>The people around us were so loud, and I could not understand a thing they said. I did not care either. All I was thinking was how I could help Raymond out of this.</p><p>“How about we go somewhere else? I don’t want to disturb the others. And we can sort it all out.” Raymond said as a verdict. He sounded he’d lost his patience.</p><p>“Is that your cunt?”</p><p>I came back from my shock and looked at the person who said that.</p><p>“Hey, watch your fucking mouth, cunt!” Raymond growled. This time he sounded angry.</p><p>I stared at the young man who was pointing at me with his bat. To this day I still do not know what it was that infuriated me. Maybe it’s the C word he called me, or the way he pointed at me. I felt livid, and was ready to fight.</p><p>Luckily I was not alone, Raymond finally had enough of it and took the chance to knock the one standing the closest to him.</p><p>It all happened so fast, as if someone pressed the fast-forward button. All I could remember was that I rushed toward Raymond and maced a guy that was getting behind him with a machete. I may or may not have kicked his crotch. And the next thing I remembered was that I fell trying to dodge the thug’s waving his knife at me frenziedly because I sprayed him. I fell gracefully like a ballerina in Swan Lake.</p><p>No, I fell like an idiot, scratching my palm and wrist on the ground, and hit hard on my butt. As I was sitting on the ground, panting, I saw Raymond rushed close to shield me while fighting the thugs. I felt helpless watching Raymond defending me and himself. Maybe I should have fled, then he would not have to protect me now.</p><p>I started crying again. Getting tired of my tears yet? Well, I’m sorry, but deal with it. This is just the way I cope. As tears pouring down my face, my brain started to work again. I looked up at Raymond again and saw that he had no problem at fight these kids at all. And as an attempt to help him in the long term, I pulled out my phone and started taking pictures of the kids’ faces. At the same time, whenever a weapon fell close to me I would try to kick them away in the interim of snatching pictures.</p><p>One thing I did not know was that my flash was on. So whenever I took a picture, the light would flash on their faces. And somehow it helped the situation and they got distracted. Maybe they were afraid that they would be exposed by my pictures, or maybe Raymond scared them. They stopped fighting and retreated, dragging the ones who was knocked out completely by Raymond and that one person I sprayed. </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hearing the roars of the bikes fade away eventually, it was only the two of us on the street. Raymond standing beside me looking around warily in case there were more coming, whereas I sat on the ground, nursing at my bleeding wrist and wiping tears off of my face.</p><p>“What the fuck were you thinking?”</p><p>I looked up and saw a very angry Raymond looking down at me, nostrials flaring.</p><p>I was trying to come up with some snarly retort, but could not. And I started to cry again, this time, really crying, wailing like a baby. </p><p>I felt mistreated, wronged, and at the same time angry. All I did was trying to help him. And in doing that I almost got killed. Truth be told he did not need my help at all, and my presence had possibly even complicated things. But it was still out of good will. He should have just appreciated my effort and said thank you, like any normal, well-educated man. Although I should have known then that he might be well-educated, but not normal at all. </p><p>Anyhow, I was mad at him yelling at me. And as the emotions flooded in my veins, I did not know what to do but cry it all out.</p><p>So I did. And I cried for at least five minutes before I started to hiccup and finally got too embarrased that I stopped, sniffing and wiping tears.</p><p>“Are you hurt?”</p><p>I heard Raymond’s defeated voice and looked up. He was squating in front of me and staring at me with worried eyes.</p><p>I was still hiccuping and too embarrassed to talk, so I just shook my head and hid my sore wrist behind my back.</p><p>Raymond caught that and sighed, “wait a sec.”</p><p>I watched him standing up and walking away. He went to his car and took a box out of the trunk, and walked back. By the time he came back, I finally managed to stop hiccuping.</p><p>He brought back a first-aid kit, and sat beside me. After taking out an alcohol pad, he reached out his hand to me and asked, “hand.”</p><p>I stared at him and showed him my wrist.</p><p>“It’s going to sting a little.” Raymond warned me before he rubbed the pad gently on the scratched skin.</p><p>He was damn right. As I felt the sharp sting I inhaled and grabbed his arm with my other hand, gazing at him. For a brief moment I was quite proud of myself for not screaming in his ear.</p><p>Raymond looked up at me through his glasses, and whispered, “it’s okay, almost done.” And then he blew air on my wrist softly, as a parent would, cooing his kid that fell on the playground. </p><p>He let go of my wrist, threw the pad away, and said as he opened another one, “the other one.”</p><p>“No, the other one is fine.” I said hurriedly, showing my other wrist in front of him as proof.</p><p>“Anywhere else?” he nodded and asked.</p><p>I shook my head.</p><p>“What about you?” I asked him as he put away the kit.</p><p>Raymond looked up at me and smiled, “I’m okay.”</p><p>I nodded and looked down on my knees. And as I saw my phone on my lap, I thought of all the pictures I took and asked Raymond, “do you know them?”</p><p>“Not really. Just smackies, I assumed.” Raymond shook his head and adjusted his glasses.</p><p>“There,” I said and handed my phone to him, “I took some pictures. May be helpful. You are welcome.”</p><p>Raymond looked down at my phone and took it from my hand. </p><p>After a few seconds of silence, he finally said, “Thank you.”</p><p>I huffed at him and asked, “how do you want them?”  </p><p>“Airdrop?” I suggested, seeing Raymond staring at the phone, like a lost kid.</p><p>“Sorry, Android.” Raymond showed his phone to me and said awkwardly.</p><p>“I can message you. Text? Or email?” I said, trying to sound nothing like asking for his number. I wasn't really, but I still did not want to sound like it.</p><p>Raymond looked down and thought for a while. In the end, he looked up at me and said, “Lucy, it would be better for you not to know much about me. You should steer clear from me.”</p><p>I raised my eyebrows at him, and said with a smirk, “am I in a Fifty Shades of Grey scene? And are you Mr. Grey?” Actually, I could see him being a great Christian.</p><p>Raymond blinked at me, and looked more confused, “what are you talking about?”</p><p>I could not hold back laughing and waved my hand at him, and instantly grimaced as the scratch stretched on my wrist.</p><p>“Nothing, really.” I said in the end.</p><p>“You should go home, Lucy.” Raymond said and stood up. He dusted his coat and then reached his hand to me.</p><p>I looked up to his eyes and to his hand. I did not want to get up, was quite enjoying this with him. But eventually I took his hand with my good one, and he pulled me up.</p><p>Apparently my legs fell asleep because I was sitting in a weird position for too long. So as all clumsy heroines in all love stories, I stumbled on the way standing up. Out of mere instinct, I grabbed his collar to save myself from falling back down.</p><p>But no, we did not kiss by accident. If we did, our front teeth would have been knocked out because of physics. Right, sorry to burst your bubble about your love fantasies, but it would turn out completely differently from what you see in the movies. Had we kissed, it would not be pretty.</p><p>Instead, Raymond held out his hands and wrapped me in his arms and helped me stand straight, one hand on my elbow, the other on the lower part of my back. By the way, he had really strong arms.</p><p>I was startled for a second, then felt his hand on my back too warm and itchy, so I shifted awkwardly away from him. After I finished arranging my wrinkled coat and dusted all the dirt away and finally looked up, I saw him handing my phone back to me.</p><p>“You don’t need the pictures?” I asked him.</p><p>“I’ll take care of this. But thank you for offering to help. I really appreciate it.” He said to me, with a guilty smile on his face.</p><p>I looked at my phone and pouted, refusing to take it back. In the end, I evaluated the possibility of me meeting someone magical like him again, and the chances that I might die because of him based on what I experienced just a while ago. And I made a decision. </p><p>I could take the risk of dying.</p><p>YOLO, sisters. And also, you should probably think a bit more than I did.</p><p>Anyways, I held out my finger to let Raymond wait a bit and rummaged in the bag he returned to me. Eventually, I found my notebook and my pen. Flipping through the pages and ignoring the fact that he would have definitely found something really embarrassing had he gone through this, I found an empty page and wrote down my phone number and my email address. And after valuing the notebook as an archeologist does a historical artifact, I ripped out the page like a careless badass, and folded it in half.</p><p>“There. Now you have my number and my email,” I said as I handed the paper to him, “buy a burner phone or register for a new google account or whatever, it’s not that hard. Then let me know so I could give you the pictures.” I finished my statement before I chickened out and stared him as determined as I had the guts to.</p><p>“Lucy, it’s really unnecessary.” Raymond said and leaned back, not taking the paper.</p><p>I made a step to him and waved the paper at him impatiently.</p><p>“I insist,” I said coldly, “as a payback for you returning my bag. And I promise you won’t hear from me again after I send you the pictures.”</p><p>I could not ignore the hurt in my chest as I said that to him. And once again, I started to feel tears surging in my eyes.</p><p>God damn it. I growled and stuck the paper recklessly in his pocket.</p><p>“Good night, Raymond.” I said with grudge and turned back, and refused to look back at him, as I walked in the building. </p><p>I regretted it tremendously the next day. I should have given him one last charming smile before leaving him in the darkness, like the heroine I was. But no, I chose to hold grimace against him in the end and felt horrified thinking the last scene he saw was my makeup-running, puffy face because I cried that much.</p><p>What if he never reached out to me? What if it was the last time I saw him?</p><p>I went on full panic mode at work the next day. Staring at my screen, I did something really dumb and pitiful at the moment. I googled his name, without even knowing his last name. </p><p>Yes, I googled “Raymond”. And as a resourceful friend as Google is as always, I got about 380,000,000 results in less than one second. Then I tried “Raymond in London”, 130,000,000 results. </p><p>Okay, that’s progress.</p><p>Then before I typed “Raymond in glasses and trench coat in London” as a desperate measure, my inbox flashed a lovely yet terrifying red dot at me. There was one new email. </p><p>I took a deep breath and clicked the envelope.</p><p>It’s from the company, asking us to do a survey about our feedback and opinions for our future with the employer. I had the urge to give 1-star all the way through but chose not to, for I felt that I was better than that. Only then did I realize that I left him with my personal email and this was my work account, so even if he emailed me I would not see it there. I was glad that I did not let my rage take over doing that survey.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay, this is all I've got so far...might take a while, hopefully not too long, for my next update. Please let me know what you think!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>By the way, I fixed all the typos (all that I could find) in the previous chapters. Sorry about that. :(</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The day went by in a blur. I felt guilty not to be productive, but then instantly redeemed myself thinking of all the extra hours I had put in. After work, I went to the pub for a beer by myself, to wash out my disappointment and sadness. </p><p>When I walked back home, it was already dark, although it was only a quarter past seven. As I was only a block away from the apartment, I looked up after passing the intersection. </p><p>And guess what I saw.</p><p>Yes, I saw Raymond, leaning against his car beside the building, exactly the same way as he did last night, smoking and waiting. </p><p>I froze and gazed at the scene, could not believe my eyes at all. </p><p>For a brief moment, I somehow wondered if I was stuck in an infinite loop, and thought to myself, “oh no, my rom-com is turning into a sci-fi, like that Source Code movie, and I don’t think I have enough charisma to survive this shit.”</p><p>I looked down at my phone and felt ridiculously relieved when I saw the time was 7:20 instead of 11:00. And as I looked up again, Raymond saw me, ditched his cigarette and walked toward me.</p><p>I flinched a little as he stepped closer and stopped right in front of me, a bit too close maybe with the front of his coat almost brushing mine. I swallowed and looked up at him, and caught that he nodded slightly behind me.</p><p>I followed his gaze and looked back, and was just fast enough to catch a shadow of a man disappearing into the darkness.</p><p>I turned back and stared at Raymond in shock.</p><p>“Wait, you had someone following me?” I accused him.</p><p>“Only for your safety. The stunt that happened yesterday, I don’t want it to happen again.” Raymond said quietly, “and you will not be shadowed any more, as the matter has been taken care of.”</p><p>I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to be as skeptical as I could.</p><p>“I have to say,”  Raymond smiled and bowed a little, “I’m quite impressed with you. After what happened last night, a normal girl would come home straight from work while there was still daylight. But not you.”</p><p>I frowned at his remark and held out my left hand to stop him.</p><p>“Okay, stop right there, gentleman. I do appreciate the ‘she's not like the other girls’ vibe you are bestowing me. However, it sounds really condescending, and I’m sorry I don’t approve.”</p><p>I was surprised that I switched into this gnarly bitch mode with the help of a pint and a day of pining in vain. And interestingly, I was not the only one in shock.</p><p>Raymond stared at me with wide eyes and blinked a few times. Then he bursted out laughing.</p><p>“You really are something, young lady,” he said, shaking his head.</p><p>“Okay I told you to stop that,” I scoffed at him, pretending to be pissed, “also, stop laughing, because you, you look worse when you laugh.”</p><p>I was lying. He looked even hotter when he laughed. I simply did not want to surrender to that. Not yet.</p><p>“Worse?” Raymond repeated, raising his brows at me.</p><p>Okay, I surrendered.</p><p>“No! What do you think? You look gorgeous when you laugh. I just, I just did not want to make you cocky by telling you that.” I mumbled and rolled my eyes at him.</p><p>“Have you had dinner?” Raymond smiled and asked all of a sudden.</p><p>I frowned at him, and asked him with a smirk, “oh, are you asking me to dinner?” seeing him nod slightly, I said, “what happened to steering clear from you, Mr. Grey?”</p><p>He frowned at me and shook his head, raising his finger to stop me, “okay, stop calling me that. I googled. And I did not like him.”</p><p>“Fair enough,” I said, stifling a laughter, and cleared my throat before I answered his question.</p><p>“And no, I haven’t had dinner yet.”</p><p>“Well, then,” Raymond said and clapped his hands in delight, "in this case, if you don’t mind me asking, may I have the honor to bring you to dinner?”</p><p>“Wait, like now? Now?” I asked, somehow could not bring myself to believe that this gorgeous British man, possibly a mafia godfather (yes, I made an educated guess when I was bored waiting helplessly), would be asking me, a nobody to have dinner.</p><p>But no, I was not thinking, “oh my, why? Why would this man ask me that? I’m not attractive at all. No men like me”, like every frigging girl in the teenage romance movies.</p><p>Actually, wait a second, scratch that. See what I almost did there? I almost fell into the “I’m not like the other girls” trap again. But can I blame myself for that? I believe that deep down all of us want to be different. It’s a survival instinct. Otherwise, how do we make sure that we don’t lose ourselves in this over-populated, information-exploding, money-worshipping, crazy world? We have to believe that we are different from all the others so that we persuade ourselves to be a unique organism of flesh, blood and spirit instead of just a pitiful symbol manipulated by the big money and power like a puppet.</p><p>Oh, got a little too dark there. Sorry for getting carried away and letting my dark soul take over. </p><p>Anyways, my point is that although we all want to be different, while everything around us tells us otherwise, it is inevitable that we will be in constant battle with ourselves struggling to believe that. And there is a fine line between self-loath and conceit.</p><p>And that was exactly what I was doing in that eternity of 30 seconds. On one hand I was telling myself that of course I deserve every bit of Raymond’s affection for I believed that I was a lovely attractive young lady. On the other hand, I had to admit that he was way above my league (yes, I love myself but I’m also honest, and will admit that I’m only a normal girl. And yes, I sometimes have a low self-esteem issue). </p><p>To make matters worse, I’d been single for a very long time and had a reputation to have scared men away for I could be intimidating sometimes. One of my best male friends told me that one time after he told me that he was trying to ask me out but chickened out because he thought I was too dominant. He told me that as a kind, well-intended suggestion. But I called him BS and refused to change.</p><p>I have no regrets.</p><p>And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. </p><p>“Unless you prefer later?” Raymond suggested, while I was busy having a war in my head.</p><p>“No, no, I’m starving,” I smiled, and then asked with a frown, “it’s just, why are you asking me to dinner?”</p><p>“Do you normally ask so many questions, when men try to ask you out?” Ray asked with a helpless frown.</p><p>“Are you asking me out?” I blurted.</p><p>“It’s a rhetorical question! You don’t have to answer me.” I added, seeing Raymond raise his brows and blink in disbelief.</p><p>“So, dinner?” Raymond sighed and tried again.</p><p>“Of course. Like I said, I’m starving.” I shone my brightest smile at him and nodded. Then I saw that Raymond reached out his elbow, waiting for me to wrap my arm around.</p><p>And I was more than happy to comply.</p><p>As a gentleman that he was, Raymond led me to the passenger side, opened the door for me, and waited aside to let me get in the car. And after he confirmed that I put my seatbelt on, I looked up and watched him lean close to me.</p><p>“By the way, you were right. I was asking you out.” he whispered in my ears, right before he closed door.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you so much for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dinner date!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I will try my best to update longer chapters.<br/>Hope you'll enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a fancy French restaurant Raymond brought me to. When we were led in by the waitress, I started to get a bit self conscious, seeing all the people around us looking elegant and proper. And the situation got even worse when I watch Raymond taking his coat off in front of me. Inside he was wearing a button-down shirt, a silk tie and a navy wool vest, just devilish good looking as he always was. By the way, I have to add that when he deliberately took off his coat, he was like a human version of a soft porn. But at the same time, I, on the other end, was in my normal everyday working attire, moderate as a diligent member of the middle class would be. </p><p>“Sorry, for my casual wear. I would have changed if I knew this would happen,” I said quietly as I sat down, feeling compelled to apologize for my unpreparedness.</p><p>Raymond looked at me, and then said with a sincere smile, “you look lovely, Lucy.”</p><p>“Thanks,” I said awkwardly and looked down at myself. I was wearing a tight black turtle-neck top tugged in a velvet scarlet maxi skirt. They were not that bad, actually. I really hoped that he was not lying to make me feel better.</p><p>At this moment in time, while waiting for the meals to be served, sipping on my water, I realized that this was probably the first time I had the chance to really look at, or rather, appreciate Raymond’s appearance. I had acknowledged the fact that Raymond looked forbiddingly handsome the first moment I saw him, but back then I was either in shock or scared most of the time. Then just before coming to this restaurant, when we met on the street, yet still, I was in shock and flustered. Therefore prior to this moment, I had never had the chance to pay him the recognition that he deserved.</p><p>But now, sitting relaxed (it’s a lie. I was tense) across the table from Raymond, I could finally look at him and find out even more stunning features on this already perfect looking man. </p><p>And I need to apologize now for I am not very good at describing things in detail. I’m terrible at it. I can’t tell you how the light of the dim candles around us danced on his light brown slicked back hair, or how the colors in his hazel eyes glittered and alternated from sapphire to turquoise at different angles, or even how his face was overall. All I could think of was that if he were an ancient greek god, he would make Zeus jealous and get punished for the way he looked. </p><p>Apart from all his glorious features, it was his demeanor that was really striking. </p><p>Raymond is a huge guy, over 6 feet tall. And you could tell that he’s built even in his confined shirt and tie. And during our first encounter, I witnessed him transfer from a kind gentleman into a violent raging hitman. Therefore I knew, he could get physical if he wanted to even when he was just sitting in front of you smiling and chilling. And that possibility of seeing him getting raw and wild hidden under his civilized attire was just, how do I describe, invigorating, and at the same time terrifying. </p><p>Even when he’s in his daily gentrified form being all polite and thoughtful, he would still radiate this mild vibe of intimidation and majesty that made strangers around him feel on edge. As if to prove my own point, I glanced sideways and saw two people at the table next to us stealthily moved their chair away from Raymond.</p><p>“What do you do for a living, Lucy?” Raymond asked and pulled me back to earth from my thoughts.</p><p>“Oh, me? I’m a backend software engineer. Programming stuff.” I answered, trying to sound neither humbled nor bragging.</p><p>“Really?” Raymond said, eyebrows raised, “that’s fantastic.” </p><p>He seemed to be very impressed.</p><p>I studied his face for a moment, and squinted at him. In the end, I did not say anything but smiled and shrugged.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Raymond saw my reaction to his compliment, and asked with questioning eyes.</p><p>I shrugged again and said, “nothing, I was reminded of some men that would say something like ‘oh you are too pretty to be a developer’ or like ‘oh really, I did not expect that’ after I told them what I do. You know, typical gender stereotyping.”</p><p>“Sorry that I made you feel that way,” Raymond apologized, “but I meant nothing like that.”</p><p>“Oh, no, don’t apologize. I was just being petty. I should apo…” I tried to explain but was stopped seeing Raymond raise his hand at me.</p><p>“Let me explain. I’m an old man, and what I do has nothing to do with high tech. So people in your industry to me are all fascinating. however, I have to agree to part of what those cavemen said about you,” seeing me frowning at him, he smiled and continued, “you are a pretty young lady.”</p><p>Hearing what Raymond said, I could feel my cheeks burning, and had to clear my throat before I threw a quick “thank you” back to him.</p><p>We sat in awkward silence for a few minutes after the waiter brought me my wine, and I finally gathered enough guts and asked him, “So what do you do, Raymond?”</p><p>Raymond took a deep inhale as if he was about to do a 5-minute self-introduction, the same one you would be asked to do in a job interview. But in the end he just said, “I am of many vocations. But unfortunately none of them are remotely interesting like yours.”</p><p>Having my own theories, I narrowed my eyes at him, leaned closer and asked quietly, "are you a drug baron?”</p><p>Seeing him widen his eyes at me, I explained, “when those kids yelled at you to return their grass to them, I did not think they were talking about their front lawn?”</p><p>Raymond looked at me with chilling eyes and his facial expression turned indifferent.</p><p>I leaned back and acted as if I was scared. “oh are you gonna shut me up for good and feed me to the sharks?” I said jokingly. Later on based on my experience, I would find that not funny at all.</p><p>But at the moment, I was stupid and knew nothing, so I just batted my eyes at him sheepishly and waited for his response.</p><p>Raymond did not say anything. </p><p>Finally I got bored and shrugged, “don’t worried. Your secret is safe with me. If you just let me live for another 3 months, I will be gone forever and have no one to tell on you.”</p><p>Raymond came back from wherever he was in his head after hearing what I just said, whereas I fell into a deep sorrow thinking “oh shit, I leave in 3 months”.</p><p>“Where are you going, if you don’t mind me asking?” Raymond asked.</p><p>I sighed and said, “home.”</p><p>Raymond waited in silence.</p><p>“I’m only in London for 5 months. It’s an exchange program in my company. And I just started my third month. Then I will go back home, meaning Canada, before the first snowfall. Actually maybe after, I don’t know…when does it snow here normally?” I went off on a tangent and pulled my phone to google when the first snow would normally be in London. But the truth was, I was trying to hide my sadness.</p><p>“So you are only staying for another three months?” Raymond asked quietly.</p><p>I looked up at him, seeing a tinge of sadness in his eyes, but completely thought that I imagined it, and nodded. I did not know what to say. And Raymond kept his silence as well.</p><p>Fortunately for both of us, the solemn silence did not last too long. Soon enough the waiters brought in our meals, and kept myself busy with my steak. I was not lying when I told Raymond that I was starving.</p><p>I devoured the steak I ordered in 15 minutes, as gracefully as I could manage. And by gracefully I meant that I did not drop any gravy on myself or stuck the spinach on my teeth from the green salad on the side. As I threw the last drop of wine down my throat, I could feel the alcohol creeping it’s way up to my brain in my veins.</p><p>I looked at Raymond again and found him only half way through his. “Well, now this is gonna be awkward," I thought to myself, made a face, and started to dangle my feet boredly back and forth under the table like a little child. </p><p>“Another glass?” the waiter materialized next to me out of nowhere and asked politely. However, as a skittish girl who could be startled by a soap bubble bursting next to me, I jumped on my chair and almost knocked down the plate in front of me.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I get scared very easily.” I apologized to the waiter who was in turn scared by me.</p><p>“No problem at all ma’am. Another glass of wine?” the waiter smiled indifferently and tried again.</p><p>“Yes, of course. Thank you!” I said and handed the glass back to the waiter.</p><p>Within a minute he came back with another glass of burgundy intoxication. I thanked him again, took over the wine from him eagerly, and took a sip.</p><p>Over the glass, I saw Raymond looking at me, so I raised my glass to him. He exhaled and took his water to clink against my wine.</p><p>“Sorry for the jump scare,” I smiled and apologized to Raymond, although not feeling sorry myself at all. The alcohol had really started working, and I was glad that it did.</p><p>“No problem at all,” Raymon shook his head, and then he looked at me with concerned eyes, “are you sure you should have another glass of wine?”</p><p>I darted a few looks between him and my glass, evaluating the possibility of me getting drunk and humiliating myself in front of him. There was always a possibility, although in theory I could drink much more than just two glasses of ‘grape juice’. Considering the beer I had before and my current jumpy tense conditions, the possibility shot up higher.</p><p>“I’m fine, but thank you for asking,” I said to Raymond with a smile, trying to sound like a strong capable woman, but at the same time I quietly pushed away the glass a bit.</p><p>Seeing Raymond smiling in satisfaction catching what I did, I found him a little invidious, which was completely impossible in a normal condition. So you see, alcohol does turn things up side down. </p><p>Drink carefully, ladies.</p><p>“You still haven’t told me what you do, Raymond. Well if you don’t mind telling me, of course.” I said, trying to change the subject.</p><p>Raymond put down his cutleries and tabbed his lips with the napkin. He adjusted his glasses and eventually said, “I work for a very powerful man. And as far as you should concern, all I can say is that not all of his business can be strictly defined as lawful, and the same way goes with my work content as well.”</p><p>I gazed at Raymond, doing all the mental gymnastics to wrap my head around what he meant, and soon enough came to the conclusion that Raymond was probably a right-hand man of a mafia emperor. I did not know how I should feel about that, but I did feel proud to find my brain still working.</p><p>“Are you afraid?” Raymond asked quietly. He looked at me in a weird way as if he expected me to say yes and would make me if I said no.</p><p>But to his disappointment, I simply shrugged and said, “no,” but then added, “maybe I should? But no, not really.”</p><p>“You should. And like I said before, you should steer clear from me, Lucy.” Raymond said with a sigh.</p><p>I snorted at him and scoffed, “well, said by someone who went the extra mile to find me and return my purse, protected me in a fight and then came back the next day to take me to dinner.”</p><p>Seeing Raymond widen his eyes at me, clearly not appreciating my sarcastic attitude. I ignored him and leaned forward, bracing myself against the edge of the table with my elbow, one hand tapping on the table, the other cupping my chin. I looked into his eyes and asked, “why would you return me my bag anyway? If you had not, none of this would have happened.”</p><p>Raymond took a deep breath and said in defeat, “I came across your bag when I was sorting out business in West London. After seeing your foreign passport, I thought it would be very inconvenient for the owner of the bag to navigate around the country. So as a London citizen I felt compelled to do a good deed and return the bag to you. But none of the things happened afterwards were expected. However, like I always say, no good deed goes unpunished.”</p><p>“Well, Thank you.” I said in earnest, but then turned snarly again, ”but why did you come back today? I mean, what are we doing here?”</p><p>“Well, I did have plans. However after you revealed the fact that you’ll be leaving soon, that kind of messed things up a bit.” Raymond shrugged, “honestly, I don’t know what we are doing here.”</p><p>“Oh, you had plans,” I repeated, trying my best not to dwell on it or let my imagination go free. I took a sip of my wine, thought for a second, and found something weird, so I asked again, frowning at him, “wait, how does that make sense? If you had my passport and was able to find where I live, how did you not know that my visa will soon expire. I thought in your line of business, you would have checked my background with ease. Hell, you might as well have my birth certificate.”</p><p>“You watched too many films, Lucy. That’s not how the real world works.” Raymond scoffed and blinked at me seeing me stick my tongue out as a retort. He shook his head and continued, “I did not want to invade your privacy. And I found your address on your notebook. Not a smart move for you, I have to say.”</p><p>Shit, he did go through my notebook, I thought and winced. And at this point, I really had nothing to say, so I kept dangling my legs like an annoying toddler again.</p><p>Being a life saver as he was, the waiter showed up again by our side and asked politely, “Coffee? Tea? Any desserts?”</p><p>Raymond shook his head at him and turned to me with questioning eyes. I shook my head as well.</p><p>“Bill, please.” Raymond said to the waiter.</p><p>After the waiter disappeared, I said to Raymond, “Are you sure? We can split.”</p><p>“I know you are an independent strong young lady, but I insist. Please give me a chance.” Raymond said with a smile.</p><p>I blushed and nodded, murmuring a quiet “thank you” to him.</p><p>“Ready?” Raymond asked me after he payed the bill.</p><p>I looked up at him, gulped the rest of my wine and stood up.</p><p>“After you, gentleman.” I said before Raymond could open his mouth.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Make Out In My Car by Sufjan Stevens and Moses Sumney: https://open.spotify.com/track/045NQr6Xvm5o9YFUMwbMzG?si=mXgjcbX4Qr6myhaVO5N9RQ</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>My dad used to call me the best road trip partner, just like my mom. Not like some people who would just sleep all the way through, I, on the other hand, would try my best to keep myself awake the whole time, trying to have conversations with the driver, feeding them snacks or water occasionally, and helping with the navigation from time to time. I would do all I could to keep the driver company and make sure that we would not be killed in a drowsy driving accident.</p><p>But apparently not that night with Raymond. After getting in the car for probably 2 minutes, I drifted off, and slept my whole way through, did not “waste” a single minute talking to Raymond. It could be the alcohol, or the intensity my mental state had been that day, or just that I had drained all my wit in our conversation and was drowning in sadness with the fact that there was an inevitable departure in the near future for us.</p><p>However, I did not sleep soundly. Whoever sat in that seat previously must be a giant and held the seatbelt very high. It kept cutting into my neck. Also my head kept sliding off the headrest and bumping on the glass. Moreover, On and off, I could hear Raymond flipping through the radios, he must have seen me asleep so he wanted find something light, however the London radio league had a different idea and decided it was the night of the rock.</p><p>In the end I tuned everything out and fell into a semi-stable slumber. Not sure how long it had been but eventually I felt that the seatbelt slid off of me, and that some one was moving my head and then something was tugged under my neck.</p><p>I let out a tiny noise and opened my eyes. Then I almost had a heart-attack, because Raymond was hovering over me, with one hand cupping my cheek and the other one under my neck with his neatly folded coat. </p><p>It was really kind of him. A true gentleman gesture. But that's all hindsight. At the moment from my perspective, all I could see was a huge shadow over me, and its owner was this bearded giant that had his hands around my neck. With my half drunk half drowsed brain, I did not even recognize him for the first three seconds.</p><p>Fortunately, before switching on my full self-defence mode and slapping his face or poking his eyes, I recognized him in time and just asked in shock, taking a sharp inhale, “what are you doing?”</p><p>“Sorry to wake you up. Just wanted to make you a bit more comfortable.” Raymond said quietly, studying my face closely but not moving. Not sure if he was afraid that his sudden movement would scare me even more, or if it’s something else.</p><p>Okay, if you are reading this, you must know the title. And as the title states, this is not a stereotypical love story, not the one where the heroine falls on the plane ground clumsily the first time she meets her hero, or the one where they meet at a party and start a toxic relationship because of a degenerating bet, or even the classic one where the couple were doomed by their rival families.</p><p>However, this, is still a love story. And what fun would a love story be without some magical incidents or coincidences scattered here and there.</p><p>So, here it is, our first little magical incident. (Might be the only good one, so savor it.)</p><p>As we were staring at each other in the car, me craning my head up and Raymond reaching across and over me, I was about to ask him if he might hurt his back if he stayed this position any longer. But then I heard the sound from the radio.</p><p>It’s a sound of a tape recorder rewinding the tape to the beginning followed by some light guitar chord playing as if it’s from a twisted vynl in a turntable. It’s a weird intro, but at the same time symbolic for a certain artist. And I happened to be a big fan of that artist, Mr. Sufjan Stevens. And the song, my friend, playing on the radio, was his version of “Make Out in My Car” by Moses Sumney.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>I’m not trying to go to bed with you</em><br/>
<em>I just want to make out in my car</em><br/>
<em>Although I’m dying to fall in love with you</em><br/>
<em>I just wanna make out in my car</em><br/>
<em>…</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>Nothing could have been planned better. </p><p>With the air around us warm and gooey, my vision fuzzy and impaired, and my last one brain cell giving up with the sound of Sufjan’s gentle voice floating in the compartment, I don’t remember who made the first move, but the next thing I knew, I was pressed into the seat with Raymond’s lips on mine.</p><p>It was a prolonged and hot kiss, yet still clean and chaste, mostly just lip-on-lip movements with minimum and tentative actions on the tongue. I squeezed my eyes shut and my hands were clenching the sides of the seat, almost completely frozen, whereas Raymond had one of his hands cupping my face, and the other braced on the headrest so that he would not crush me with all his body weight. If my memory works as it’s supposed to, I remember that his lips being soft and his beard not as tickling as I expected, and that he smelled really good, a mix of luxurious cologne and clean hair wax. </p><p>Not sure how long the kiss lasted, but by the time Raymond let me go and sat back on his seat, I was gasping to get air back into my lungs. After a few second of recovering from shock and hyperventilation, I looked over only to find Raymond as disoriented as I was, his hair disheveled as he bumped his head on the roof of the car when he was sitting back, and his glasses falling to the middle of his nose bridge. I bit my lips to suppress my smile when I watched him gathering himself together.</p><p>Eventually Raymond looked back up at me. His pupils seemed darker, almost black in the dark night. He blinked a few times, parted his lips but did not say anything.</p><p>I could tell that he was trying to apologize. And I was not gonna let that happen. Trying to find something light-hearted and witty to say, I tasted a delicate minty flavor on the tip of my tongue. </p><p>On a whim, I blurted, “Did you eat a mint?”</p><p>Raymond batted his eyes at me, and nodded, “yes.”</p><p>I smiled and extended my hand to him, palm up, “sharesies?”</p><p>Raymond stared at my hand for a moment and reached in his pocket.</p><p>“Of course,” he said and took out a tiny tin and poured a small crystal yellow pill in my hand.</p><p>Popping the mint in my mouth and feeling the refreshing lemony and minty sweetness on my tongue, I let out a satisfied moan and looked to the other side.</p><p>We were parked outside of my dorm.</p><p>“Oh, you drove me back. Thank you.” I said, trying to sound grateful instead of disappointed. What was I expecting, seriously?</p><p>I looked back at Raymond and said, “you know, I would really love to invite you upstairs and continue, but the walls won’t block anything. That means my flatmates would hear everything.” I widened my eyes at him to express the severity of the situation, and repeated, “I mean, everything.”</p><p>Raymond chuckled and shook his head, “Go home, Lucy. I won’t do anything with you now, not when you are not sober.”</p><p>“Oh, so drunk sex is a hard no for you?” I tried to tease with ease but felt my cheeks burning instead.</p><p>“Just go home, take a hot bath, and rest well, Lucy.” Raymond said with a smile and got off the car.</p><p>I watched Raymond as he walked across and opened the door for me. After staring at him for a whole extended 5 seconds, I sighed and complied. </p><p>After getting off the car, I stood dangerously close to him, pouted and looked up at him.</p><p>Raymond stared at me and raised his eyebrows.</p><p>“Do you mind lowering yourself just a little bit, you giant? I’m trying to kiss you goodbye here.” I sighed helplessly.</p><p>“Oh,” Raymond took a step back and bent his back toward me. I scoffed and leaned forward, pressed a small kiss on his cheek, and before he straightened back, stole another kiss on his lips.</p><p>“Good night, Raymond.” I looked up and smiled brightly at him.</p><p>“Good night, Lucy,” Raymond nodded and said, “I’ll see you around.”</p><p>I know it was a suboptimal time to play hard-to-get, but I decided to do it anyways.</p><p>“We’ll see,” I said. Then before Raymond could react, I danced my way to the front door like a dainty lady. Before I put the key in, I turned back and found Raymond was still standing there, looking at me.</p><p>I blowed a kiss at him, waved him goodbye for one last time. I turned around, opened the door, and stepped in.</p><p>Next day when I woke up, I cursed at myself for being a complete dumbass. The whole shenanigan of that dinner date last night was an absolute waste, of no practical outcome at all. Yes, we had a date and kissed, but then what? I still didn’t have his number, nor did I know how to find him, whereas he had all the cards in his hands, my number, my email, my address, and the confidence knowing that I fell for him. Although for the last one, I had to say the feeling was mutual. From the look on his face last night, there was no chance he did not fall for me. </p><p>No, don’t try to argue with me. I need this to brainwash myself.</p><p>Anyways, on Saturday I incarcerated myself in my room and tried to starve myself to death as a punishment for not getting anything out of Raymond. But in the end I decided not to be too hard on myself. I took a good night of sleep to recover and did some groceries the next day and prepared myself for work.</p><p>The week went by quietly with hearing nothing from Raymond. The first two days were really hard on me since I was on edge constantly thinking that he might give me a call at any time and something wonderful would happen. But no, nothing happened. On Wednesday, after work I went back to my room and cried my eyes out, almost slapped myself for being such a sappy desperate bitch. I promised myself that I would go on with my life whether I would hear from Raymond again.</p><p>On Friday, I seemed to have recovered to 90% of myself. That same night, on my notebook I found the list of the museums in London I wanted to go to and planned a day trip for Saturday. Among the museums I had not visited, I settled on two that did not require a lot of commute and found a best route to get the most out of the trip.</p><p>The trip went really well the next day. The weather turned sunny and mild after a week of fogs and rains, which reminded me of the weird Chinese translation of the book Oliver Twist, “The Orphan in the City of Fogs” it is. Apart from the weather, the commute was also compliant, no traffic at all. </p><p>The two museums I picked were relatively small so I could finish visiting both in one day. I am a noctorious slow visiter in museums. My mom went with me one time and refused to do it again for she fell asleep waiting for me 4 times. Anyways, although the museums were small, the artifacts were fascinating, which I took a lot of pictures of, also selfies with.</p><p>After walking out of the second museum, I checked my phone and found that it was only thirty past three in the afternoon. I went in a lovely coffee shop to go through the pictures I took and write some stuff on my notebook. </p><p>As I was going through the pictures, I found something quite funny. In the selfies I took on the street and outside the museums, there was a certain man repetitively appeared in a lot of them. And as I took a closer look, I found out that he had the same physique as the shadow of a man I saw last Friday. All of sudden, I felt my chest filled with rage.</p><p>Oh, Raymond.</p><p>Taking a few deep breaths, I suppressed my urge to find the man, instead pretended to mind my own business and scratched a lot of swear words on my notebook. After five minutes I made up my mind and walked out of the coffee shop.</p><p>Out on the street, I tried not to look around for the man, but kept on walking. At this point I did not care where I was going but with a certain destination on my mind. Finally after 5 blocks, I found it.</p><p>It was a dirty sketchy Irish pub with filthy signboard above the door and a couple of drunks lying around. It looked like some place you would not expect a tiny Asian girl to go in all by herself, especially not in an outfit I was wearing that day. Oh, what I was wearing? Well, let’s just say that I took full advantage of the sparse warm weather and was dressed in a minimalism style that you would expect an American chick to be in a hot summer’s day, plus a black leather jacket, of course, in case it got cold. I was not crazy.</p><p>I stared at the pub for a second, ignoring the catcalls around me, and walked in with determination. I was craving for a pint of Guinness anyway.</p><p>Surprisingly, the pub inside looked clean and pleasant. There were only few gentlemen inside sipping on their beer, and the place was almost empty since it was still early in the day. As I walked in, I could feel everyone inside stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at me. I returned them with my shiny bright smile and walked straight up to the counter.</p><p>“Can I have a Guinness, please?” I smiled and said to the bartender.</p><p>“Coming right up, m’lady.” the bartender nodded and smiled back at me, shining his two golden front teeth.</p><p>As I was sipping on the cold stout, I saw from the corner of my eye that some man approached. I turned and saw that he came and sat beside me. He was wearing a newsboy hat, a pair of thick rim glasses, and a full body of blue plaid tracksuits.</p><p>I smiled and raised my glass at him.</p><p>“What is a girl like you doing here?” he asked in a thick Irish accent.</p><p>“Enjoying my beer like you,” I said and smiled at him. </p><p>“Donno if I should call you bold or stupid.” he said solemnly.</p><p>“Wow, you talk like a gentleman.” I laughed and raised my eyebrows at him.</p><p>“Finish your beer and I’ll walk you out to a safe spot. Tis not a place for a girl like you.” he said and downed his beer.</p><p>“Tas none of your business. But thank you for your offer.” I said as a conclusion. I was indeed touched by his kindness, but was not in the mood to banter at all.</p><p>Just as the man was opening his mouth again, I heard the door open and saw the man I was waiting for came in. </p><p>“Was about time.” I mumbled under my breath, and smiled at him. He looked embarrassed.</p><p>I took one last gulp of my beer and waved at the bartender. After paying the bill, I jumped off the stool and bowed at the man next to me.</p><p>“Enjoy the rest of your day, good man.” I blew a kiss to him before I turned to the door.</p><p>I walked to the black giant beside the door and looked up at him, being all meek and innocent, “do you mind if we find a tea place and talk?”</p><p>He pursed his lips, stepped aside and gestured at the door, “after you, darling.”</p><p>After settling in a booth at a teahouse nearby, I reached out my hand to the man, “my name’s Lucy, and you probably already know that. Nice to finally meet you.”</p><p>“Bunny. Nice meeting you too,” the man said and took my fingers, waving up and down a few times.</p><p>“Mr. Bunny,” I started after getting my hand back, “I know you are a busy man, have a lot of important work to do. And shadowing me around the city must be the last thing you want. So when you get a chance to talk to Raymond, can you tell him to stop making you do this? I don’t think I need any protection, and I don’t see myself in any danger as long as he does not show up as he has not for the past few days.”</p><p>Oh well, that turned pathetic too fast, while I tried to come in so strong.</p><p>Bunny smiled at me, took a sip of his tea, and said, “you can tell him all that yourself.”</p><p>“Oh no, you did not call him, did you?” I asked, pretending to be shocked.</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>Please tell me you did!</em>
  </span>
</p><p>“I just told him you must have spotted me because where you went seemed…too off the tangent,” he said and shrugged, “he said he’d be here in a minute.”</p><p>“Oh that’s really unnecessary,” I said in dismay.</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>Oh you did good, my man!</em>
  </span>
</p><p>“I have to say he has quite a good taste for his woman, that old geezer.” Bunny said and looked at me in admiration.</p><p>“Oh I am not his…” I said and shook my head.</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>You are damn right he does!</em>
  </span>
</p><p>Then at this exact moment, Raymond walked in.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Back to a shorter chapter...Sorry...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bunny left right away after seeing that I stared at Raymond in pure anger and Raymond contrarily looked guilty, which must be something bizarre for him to witness. Once again, that man made the right choice.</p><p>We sat across the table in complete silence for a couple of minutes. I was waiting for him to give me an explanation, but apparently this gentleman preferred staring at me with keen eyes instead of opening his mouth to start a communication like an adult. And at the same time, I was having a tantrum and did not want to say a word to him at all.</p><p>So being childish as I was at the time, instead of throwing things around and yelling and crying, I chose a different route. Still holding eye contact with Raymond, I grabbed my bag and pulled out my Kindle, slowly leaned forward to take the teacup from the table, and settled back in my seat with the Kindle on my lap and started reading, before which I deliberately crossed my legs in front of him. I think it’s worth mentioning again that I was dressed in a summery fashion, meaning I was wearing a floral smocked low-cut mini dress under my jacket, with no stockings.</p><p>It was obvious that my leaning forward and crossing my legs were power moves, which may make a lot of the feminists purse their beautiful lips in disagreement. But call me a bad feminist all you want, I’m not above taking advantage of my feminine features to get what I want. Also, hold your lady horses, I did not reveal anything inappropriate. We were still in public, and I know what is right and wrong. So no kids or seniors were disturbed.</p><p>Anyways, it worked. Sipping from my teacup, I glanced at Raymond and saw that he slightly turned his neck and raised his hand to loosen his tie. I stifled my smile while giving myself a mental high-five, and went back to my book.</p><p>I tried my best to focus on the words on the screen, and for a brief moment I was really reading. And whatever words on that page must put some reason and sense back to my brain. Soon enough I decided to be the bigger person and open the floor for us.</p><p>“So, what is your deal, Mr. Raymond? Why did you ask Bunny to follow me? I thought you said that no shadowing was needed.” I asked and looked up, locking the screen and putting the device aside.</p><p>“I just wanted to make sure that you were safe.” Raymond said.</p><p>“Why would I not be? Was the matter not taken care of like you said? Whatever that means.” I said and rolled my eyes.</p><p>“Yes, it had been. However,” Raymond said and tilted his head to adjust his glasses, “As I told you before, what I do for a living could be deemed as illicit, and we have some competitions in the same business…”</p><p>I cut in before he could finish, “so you think I might be in danger because some said competitions could have seen me with you?”</p><p>Raymond nodded, “yes.”</p><p>“So the risk will be there as long as I keep seeing you?” I asked again, not sure if I wanted to know what he’s about to say.</p><p>“Yes,” Raymond said simply.</p><p>“But will I be seeing you again?” I asked with my eyes narrowed at him, “I have to say that did not seem to be the case for the last few days.”</p><p>“I don’t know, really, Lucy,” Raymond said and looked up at me, pushing his glasses up, “I don’t think you should see me again, yet this happened. However, I would suggest you do not put yourself in a compromised position the next time.”</p><p>“Oh there will be no next time,” I said and shook my head, “I did what I did today because Mr. Bunny tripped and I wanted to bust him. And yes, I do admit that I did it also to draw you out. And it worked.” I admitted and smiled at him.</p><p>“You know,” I leaned forward to pour more tea in my cup, “you did not have to show up today. You could have just used Bunny as your mouth piece to warn me not to do this again or whatever you wanted to tell me. Yet here you are. So if my theory is correct, I suspect we will see each other again some time soon, maybe even many times.”</p><p>Raymond did not say anything but kept his eyes on me. He looked mildly amazed.</p><p>“Alright then,” I shrugged, then turned my expression into more of a poker face, “if so, I suggest that we do this, whatever this is,” I pointed at myself and Raymond back and forth a couple of times, “in a more egalitarian and sustainable manner. You disappearing on me for the whole week was disrespectful. As a gentleman, you’d like to be respected the way you should be. And as a grown-up independent lady, so would I.”</p><p>“Duly noted,” Raymond nodded his head, “and I apologize. I’m sorry that I disappeared on you. It’s too late now, but I was planning to call you yesterday, but something turned up. Something unexpected.”</p><p>I pursed my lips and contemplated for a few second. I was going to give him the reprimand that he deserved, but in the end I gave up. </p><p>There were so many things going on. At that moment, it illuminated in my head that I had no idea what was going on in his life. He could have been facing life threatening situations and been in gun fights. And if that was the case, making sure that a strange girl would not feel insecure seemed too much to ask for him. And with that thought, I started to get deeply worried about him being killed by some gangster. Moreover, he only said “I’ll see you around” but never made any practical promises, then was he really in the false? Slowly, I started to transform from my original confident, justified and aggressive self to a ball of doubt, sympathy and worry.</p><p>In the end, I stopped myself from this down spiral and settled down on the conclusion that he did, what sounded to me at the time, a sincere apology. Let’s forgive him for now and see how he would behave afterwards.</p><p>Finally I shrugged, “cool, apology accepted.”</p><p>Raymond stared at me and raised his eyebrows. He opened his mouth to say something, but I held up my hand to stop him.</p><p>“But I’m not finished yet,” I said, looking into his eyes, “for you having people following me, I appreciate it that you want to keep me safe. Thank you, Raymond,” I flashed a smiled at him and then looked serious again, “although I don’t like the idea of being overwatched by some mysterious guardian without my consent. So if you are going to keep doing this, can you at least let me know please? Also, I’ll ask for one last time, is this really necessary?”</p><p>“I’m afraid so. Yes.” Raymond said with a sigh.</p><p>“Okay, then. I’m not gonna say no to free bodyguard. But let's make a deal, always let me know if there is someone, okay?” I said and reaching my hand out to Raymond, as if we are making a treaty or something.</p><p>Raymond looked impressed, and then took my hand and shook for a couple of times.</p><p>“Oh by the way, don’t worry about me telling anyone about you or your business. First of all, I still don’t know what you do,” I grimaced, and held my finger out when Raymond wanted to interrupt, “yeah, yeah, I know, for my own good or whatever. And secondly, I don’t want any trouble that would impact my work here either. So I won’t tell.”</p><p>“I know.” Raymond said with a smile.</p><p>“Cool, so we are good then.” I smiled and let out a sigh, “and what now?” I shrugged and asked.</p><p>Raymond looked down at his gold watch and looked up at me, “do you fancy fish and chips? I know a good chippy somewhere around here.“</p><p>“Yeah. Deep fried fish filet and crispy fries. Who doesn’t?” I said matter-of-factly.</p><p>“In that case,” Raymond said and stood up, buttoning his coat up, “shall we?”</p><p>I looked up at him for a moment. Instead of standing up with him, I sat back with my arms crossed, “can we agree first that I’m buying this time?”</p><p>Raymond blinked at me a few times. Seeing that I was not giving in, he finally sighed and nodded, “whatever you say, young lady.”</p><p>I laughed and stood up, gathering my stuff in my bag. As we walked out, I said to Raymond, “by the way, please stop calling me young lady. You know how old I am. You saw my passport.”</p><p>As we were standing beside the car, Raymond opened the passenger door for me, sized me up and said, “look at yourself, you could get away as a high schooler if you wanted to.”</p><p>“Why, thank you,” I smiled and gave a curtesy to him before I got in.</p><p>The fish &amp; chips place was really good, living up to its reputation. But I was more into what was going to happen after the food. On that context, I was off during the dinner most of the time, but somehow gathered enough wit to tell a couple of office anecdotes when Raymond asked me how my week had been. And to that I have to say that for a person who, using his own words, “has nothing to do with hight tech”, Raymond seemed very interested in my work stories, even smiled a couple of times where I expected him to. Or maybe, he was just a very nice gentleman.</p><p>Finally, we both finished the food, and I waved at the waiter for the bill. And of course, I got a look from the gentleman when I took the check holder from him when he was handing it over to Raymond.</p><p>“I have to say this is the first time I have a lady buy my dinner.” Raymond said as he wiped his mouth with the napkin, looking helpless yet amused, “I don’t know how I should feel about it. But I guess everything has a first.”</p><p>I smiled at Raymon’s remark and said with open arms, “Welcome to the new world, Raymond.”</p><p>The waiter came back with the machine waited for me to pay the bill, and walked away without a word. Based on the way he looked, I was sure that he was going to have a nightmare that night witnessing what just happened. I had no pity for him. </p><p>I mean, get woke, dude.</p><p>After sliding my card back to my wallet, I sighed in triumph and looked at Raymond. </p><p>“Well, I'm honored to be your first time, Raymond,” I said and laughed as Raymond blinked at me a few time in disbelief. And I quickly added “no pun intended” before it got too far.</p><p>Actually, pun intended.</p><p>“Anyways,” Raymond sighed as he sat up and got ready to get up, “shall we?”</p><p>“May I know where we are headed?” I asked with a smile, trying to stay as neutral as I could.</p><p>“If you don’t mind, let’s go get a drink,” Raymond suggested politely, “I know a place that has decent alcohol.” Raymond reached out his hand to me as he finished.</p><p>I batted my eyes at him, waiting for more from him, but nothing came back. In the end, I sighed and took his hand.</p><p>This time on the ride, I successfully stayed awake, not alerted, but just leisurely looking out the window at the pretty night scenes of London. Not much words were exchanged, not even radio playing. Perhaps Raymond did not want another incident like the last time. Shame. But I actually felt quite at ease being surrounded by the silence and the low churning of the car engine.</p><p>However, soon enough I noticed that something was not quite right, as the lights of the city started to get sparse, and the streets less and less busy. I thought Raymond was bringing me to a bar or a pub. But it seemed that we were driving away from where those places were supposed to be located.</p><p>I was not worried per se, but more confused.</p><p>“Where are we going, Raymond?” I asked light-heartedly, looking back to Raymond.</p><p>Raymond gave me a quick glance before turning back to focusing on the road. He was smiling.</p><p>“My place. I have decent alcohol.” Raymond said simply.</p><p>It took me a full 30 seconds to process what he just said. And then another 20 to get through the shock. In the end I laughed and said, “wow, you’re smooth.”</p><p>After another a minute or so of crazed brain churning, I turned to Raymond again and asked, “wait, if we are going to your place, should I not be blind-folded? You know, because of your line of business.”</p><p>Raymond scoffed and said, not even darting an eye at me, “like I said, Lucy, you watch too many films. That’s not how real world works.”</p><p>I made a face at him, not even sure he got that or not, and turned back to look out the window.</p><p>At this point, I was in the mix of battles of, one, not freaking out, and two, worrying if my makeup would survive.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay friends, here is some (mild) smut...finally living up to the rating :)</p><p>Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eventually, I watched the car pulled up at a gate to what seemed to me a castle. I glared out the window and asked Raymond in awe, “Raymond, are you part of the royal family?”</p><p>“No, I’m just an inheritor of a family of prominent business men, that’s all. My ancestors were keen to get into the royalty business, but it’s too prestige for me.” Raymond said, as he used his fob to open the gate and drove through.</p><p>As I was admiring the neatly trimmed hedges, the huge garden, and the gigantic house in the middle, Raymond parked the car. Seeing that there were another couple of fancy vintage vehicles beside the one we were in, I made a silent “wow” as Raymond opened the door for me and extended his hand to me.</p><p>“Sorry that I’m acting poorly. I feel like a poor peasant being surrounded by the wealth.” I smiled timidly as I took Raymond’s hand and got off the car. “I’m not against money at all, though. It’s just, very…in the movies,” I added awkwardly.</p><p>“Well, I apologize if this makes you uncomfortable. Let’s get inside. The night is getting cold, and I promise it’s a lot less in the movies inside.” Raymond smiled and suggested.</p><p>I followed Raymond into the kitchen after passing the long corridor filled with old oil paintings, and photos of mechanical parts and groups of people from a different time. The kitchen was an open area connected to the dining room and a lounge. At one end of the dining room opposite to the kitchen, there was a wood paned glass door leading to the front garden. </p><p>Raymond was right. The inside of the house was a lot more cozy and casual. The walls were painted in muted colors, lit with soft lighting from antique lamps. And on the walls, there were cabinets filled with expensive looking glasses and shelves of porcelain vases and clay pots. The furnitures in the room fell in two categories, one of which had the same antique, expensive and prestige characters, same as the house itself, whereas the other less rare or precious but more quirky and personal.</p><p>The ones in the latter category seemed more like something found in a flea market or a thrift store. The image of Raymond bargaining with some old ladies almost had me burst in laughters.</p><p>“So, better?” Raymond asked as he took off his coat.</p><p>I did the same, looked around, and replied with a shrug, “sure.”</p><p>While the house was radiating calm and welcoming atmosphere, it was still chilly inside since we had indeed stepped into the autumn. I could feel the goosebumps popping on my arms and my back. I crossed my arms as an attempt to hide a shiver.</p><p>“Excuse me for a minute,” Raymond said to me and left the room.</p><p>In only a couple of minutes, he came back with a ginger cardigan in his hand. I watched him walk up to me, unfold the sweater and spread it over me. It felt soft, fuzzy and warm. I stayed still as Raymond put the cardigan around me, and felt his arms around me just a bit longer than I expected.</p><p>“Oh, thanks. That’s very kind of you.” I said quietly and looked back at him.</p><p>Raymond looked down at me with his eyes fixated on my lips. After just a split second, he took a step back, lowered his head to adjust his glasses and looked up at me again, back to his poised self.</p><p>“What do you want to drink?” Raymond asked as he walked around the counter to the liquor cabinet.</p><p>I sat down on at stool by the counter, putting my arms through the sleeves, and shrugged at him, “I don’t know. What are you drinking?”</p><p>Raymond took a bottle of amber liquid off the cabinet and showed it to me. “Scotch, single-malt. Wanna try?”</p><p>“Yeah, of course.” I said and nodded keenly.</p><p>I’m not a big fan of Scotches. But Raymond did not have to know that. Not at that ime.</p><p>Raymond grabbed two glasses and popped the bottle open. He poured two fingers in one and one in the other. He held the glasses up, one in each hand, clinked, and handed me the glass with only one finger of the Scotch.</p><p>“Cheers,” I said and took the glass, then drank it all in one gulp after secretly taking a deep breath.</p><p>I regretted it instantly. Feeling the smoky fiery liquid burning all the way down my gullet, exploding in my stomach and leaving a weird sweet aftertaste in my mouth, I could not help but grimace. I was too slow trying to hide all that with my hand pretending to wipe my mouth.</p><p>Raymond saw it all.</p><p>“Okay,” he chuckled and poured another two fingers in his own empty glass, “what do you really wanna drink?”</p><p>“This is good,” I disclaimed, trying to lie to save my face, "I’m liking it.”</p><p>Raymond looked at me, eyebrows raised, and took the glass away from me.</p><p>I looked at him with guilt and pursed my lips. Felt embarrassed being exposed, I finally confessed, “okay, I might not be a big fan of Scotch, but it’s good liquor. However,” I smiled sheepishly at him, “can I be basic and just get a gin &amp; tonic instead?”</p><p>“Or course,” Raymond nodded amiably, and turned around to mix my drink, while I stuck my tongue out and fanned it with my hand, trying to get rid of the Scotch aftermath.</p><p>I finally recovered fully when Raymond turned around with a glass of transparent, sparkly liquid in a square-shaped glass, neatly garnished with a fresh wedge of lime.</p><p>Taking the drink from Raymond, I marvelled at his work, “wow, this is Insta worthy.”</p><p>Raymond looked at me with a mild confusion.</p><p>“It’s a complement. Worth a selfie with on social media. Instagram?”</p><p>“Oh, thank you.” Raymond nodded and smiled.</p><p>Normally I took cocktails like gin &amp; tonic as beverages like coke or sprite instead of alcoholic drinks, and would drink them really fast if I was thirsty. And at that moment, I was really thirsty. </p><p>Again, pun intended.</p><p>Raymond watched me with wide eyes as I downed the drink in one motion and put down the glass, clicking the table with a soft ting.</p><p>“Maybe you should slow down just a bit, young lady?” Raymond suggested carefully.</p><p>“What? I was thirsty.” I said and shrugged.</p><p>“Do you want water? Tea?” Raymond asked.</p><p>I shook my head and said, “no, thanks. I’m good now,” then as a second thought I added duly, “but you’re right, I should slow down a bit. Not a quick drinker. Actually, tea sounds really nice, if you don’t mind.”</p><p>Raymond nodded and turned back to get the kettle. I watched him preparing the tea by the stove and felt warmer and warmer as the alcohol started to work.</p><p>My hair was long over my shoulders at the time. And with long hair I mostly would just gather it up in a pony tail or a bun, since I cannot stand the heat and the itch around my face and neck. I am very ticklish. But on rare occasions when I had to be demure and dainty, I would let down my hair. And I was trying to be exactly that with Raymond.</p><p>However, the cardigan added to the level of suffer and I finally gave up. I looked at my wrists and found out that I forgot to wear an emergency elastic, and my bag was too far away to fish for one discretely. And even if I could do that, there might not be one. I sighed in defeat and held my hair up in my hand, trying to find a way out. </p><p>Looking up at Raymond, I saw him pulling a drawer open and took two teaspoons out. I peeked and saw that there was some chopsticks looking thingy inside.</p><p>Like Smaug spotting a lost gold coin, I jumped off the stool in excitement and walked over beside Raymond.</p><p>Raymond turned to look at me and paused in the middle of closing the drawer.</p><p>Seeing that there were indeed chopsticks in the drawer, and that they were the pointy ones, perfect to serve as hairpins, I looked up at Raymond with a bright smile and pure joy in my eyes. Raymond looked down, following my gaze, but could not figure out what was the deal. He frowned and looked up at me again.</p><p>I pointed at the chopsticks and asked, “May I take one?”</p><p>Raymond looked at the chopsticks that I was pointing at, and grabbed a pair, handing over to me.</p><p>“I thought you use them in pairs?”</p><p>I took one from his fingers and smiled at him with a “just watch” look on my face. I turned around and swiftly twisted my hair into a messy bun and stuck the chopstick in to hold it together. I even turned my head a couple of times to test if the bun was done well.</p><p>Then I turned around and did a "ta da”, while Raymond kept staring at me in amazement.</p><p>“What?” I shrugged, “I was too warm with the hair down.”</p><p>“Were you?” Raymond asked with his head tilted.</p><p>I nodded and found my cheeks burning with his eyes fixed on me. To save myself from combusting in his gaze, I tried to occupy myself with something else. Looking over to his back, I saw the half made tea. And I tried to walk past him and suggested, “do you need a hand with the tea?”</p><p>Raymond held out his arm and stopped me with his hand on my waist. I froze as I felt his hand pulling me toward him. Feeling his warm breath on top of me, I felt my own breath shallow and heartbeat racing. Finally I took a deep breath and looked up at him.</p><p>“Do you still need this, if you are warm now?” Raymond said quietly as he put his hands around the collar of the cardigan and slid his fingers along the hem. His thumbs deliberately brushed my neck and collarbones along the way. Eventually he rested his hands on the lower part of my back, pulling me against him.</p><p>I seemed to have lost my voice as I kept looking into his eyes. My brain was yelling at me to give him a response, even just a nod or a shake of my head, while fighting back another siege of the vicious alcohol. For some reason, I simply could not. </p><p>But I had to do something. After failing to work out some smartass resolution in my intoxicated brain, I was suddenly reminded of what was supposed to be led to by all the things that happened tonight and the nights before, meaning what we were doing here. Looking into Raymond’s darkened eyes, I was sure that we both knew it was pretty clear already.</p><p>So without further ado, I followed my heart and did what I’d always wanted since the first time I met him.</p><p>As I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around Raymond’s neck, finding my lips on his, Raymond held my waist and lifted me up, wrapping his arms around my back. Following his motion, I involuntarily wrapped my legs around his hips. </p><p>Suddenly I felt something bumping on my left knee. I could not help but break our kiss and yelp in pain.</p><p>“Ouch, what is that?” I pulled back and asked Raymond, frowning, “there is something cutting into my left knee.”</p><p>Blinking at me a couple of times, Raymond looked like something dawned on him. With his left hand on my back to keep me in place, he reached his right hand to his back and pulled something out.</p><p>It was a gun, probably hidden under his vest so I never saw it. I looked at the black metal thing for a few seconds and then suddenly realized what it was.</p><p>Looking back now, I realize that I had never seen a real gun in my life before that moment. And on a normal occasion, I would just freak the fuck out and yell and run away in full speed and then call the police. However, I was not afraid at all at that moment. There must be something about going to a foreign country and meeting a devilishly handsome man in a series of extraordinary encounters, that made me carefree, which I should really not be but was anyways. I guess it was because the whole thing felt like a feverish illusion of a adolescent girl. And if I was living in a dream why would I worry?</p><p>Anyways, at the time I did not feel a tiny tinge of fear seeing Raymond pull the gun out. All I wanted was to go back to what we were doing before. </p><p>“There. Sorry about that,” Raymond said as he put it on the counter beside us, and looked back at me.</p><p>I sighed and leaned in to kiss him again. But he pulled back, keeping his eyes on me, scrutinizing, as if trying to find something on my face.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” I asked him in confusion.</p><p>“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Raymond asked after taking a deep breath.</p><p>“Why would I not?” I frowned and asked him.</p><p>“Do you not mind?” Raymond asked and glanced at the gun on the counter.</p><p>I followed him and looked at the gun, after a few seconds of being completely puzzled, I found my self-defence self kicking in.</p><p>“Oh, are you slut-shaming me because I want to have sex with you without knowing you? A dangerous stranger?” I scolded and unwrapped my legs from him.</p><p>“No,” Raymond held me tighter to stop me from getting away from him. He shook his head, and cooed, “hey, hey, hey, stop. I meant nothing like that.”</p><p>“Then what?” I asked and raised my brows at him.</p><p>“I don’t want to hurt you.” Raymond said quietly before he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on the hollow of my neck.</p><p>I shivered at the sensation of his soft lips and tickly beard and bit my lips to stifle a whimper. </p><p>“You won’t.” I reassured him as I leaned back and looked at him, “I know what I want.”</p><p>And that, met our communication quota of the day.</p><p>Raymond carried me from the kitchen to the master bedroom upstairs, with his lips glued on mine the whole time. For a second, I actually thought about walking by myself instead of him carrying me, but in the end was too busy kissing him to voice my objection. I decided to let my feminist self rest in peace for a second. Also, Raymond seemed not to be bothered. His breathing did not change at all while doing the labor of of carrying me and eagerly sticking his tongue in my mouth. And I could taste the Scotch from him, and felt that I might start to like the spirit this way.</p><p>After we got in the bedroom, Raymond turned the bedside lamp on and sat down on the bed, with me still on top of him, parting my legs beside his thighs and kneeling on the bed. After kissing for another few minutes, we finally broke apart. </p><p>He looked at me with his face craned up, smirking. I somehow got the cue with my foggy head, and took his glasses off for him, then reached over to put them on the nightstand. Raymond pulled me back right after I dropped them on the surface. I looked at Raymond and panted, thinking to myself that he looked different but still on the same level of hotness without his glasses, just a bit younger and a lot wilder. </p><p>When Raymond reached his hands into the cardigan that was still on me, I put my arms down to let the sweater fall on the floor, and went back to wrap my arms around his neck. Raymond watched me for a moment, as if he was appreciating a piece of art work, completely ignoring my self-consciousness. Then he reached up his hand and pulled the “hairpin” out of my hair. I could feel my hair falling down and tickling my shoulders, and I shook my head slightly to let the hair fall into a more graceful style, as if I was in a Pantene commercial.</p><p>I guess my trick worked, as I watched Raymond arced his eyebrows before leaning in to kiss my neck, and then all the way down to my chest. My breath hitched as I felt his hands working on my body and slowly moved toward the zipper on my back. </p><p>I started to get more and more nervous and squeezed my eyes shut as I heard the sound of my zipper sliding open. As the dress loosened, I pulled my arms off the sleeves, and felt it fell on my hip. I did not dare to open my eyes.</p><p>After a few seconds of silence, I finally gathered enough courage and pried my left eye open. Raymond was watching me with amusement.</p><p>“You are quite liberal under that little piece of cloth of yours, young lady.” Raymond said with his eyebrows raised. </p><p>I was not wearing a bra.</p><p>“I like freedom.” I retorted and pouted.</p><p>“Well, I have to say I appreciate this precious quality of yours.” Raymond said and lowered his head to kiss my breasts. I craned my head up and tried to suppress a moan at the feeling of Raymond’s warm tongue on my skin.</p><p>Feeling the world swirling in front of me, I found myself lying on my back on the bed with Raymond on top of me. He went back kissing me with his hands on my chest, holding and pressing on my breasts, and then down on my hips, pulling my dress off of me.</p><p>While he worked strategically on getting me naked, I was messy with my hands in getting his clothes off. Well, it was not fair to begin with. I had only two pieces of clothing in total, while he had a vest, a shirt, a tie, and possibly a tank underneath, and I didn’t even want to think about how I would pry his belt open to get his pants off. Also, I was in the impact of alcohol and my anxiety, so my hands were not cooperating at all.</p><p>Fortunately, Raymond was a real gentleman and noticed my struggle, and came to my rescue. I braced myself on my elbow as I watched him getting off bed and standing straight to take the rest of his clothes off. He worked in such a slow and steady motion that I felt like I was watching an exclusive high-end striptease like a royalty.</p><p>And it was quite a show.</p><p>Finally, we were both naked. I tried my best to pry my eyes off of his body but failed as I saw his rippling arm muscles, body-builder chest, and the iconic six-pack. I felt like I was about to make love with Michelangelo’s David. Their bodies really had great semblance, except that Raymond had a marvellous erection, whereas David has a sad tiny bit of a thing between his crotch.</p><p>Sorry, David.</p><p>I was scooped back to reality from my head as Raymond came back to bed and press his hot body on mine.</p><p>“Fancy what you see?” Raymond whispered as he leaned down and licked my left earlobe, his hands caressing my hair on the bed.</p><p>“uh huh,” I nodded and bit my lips. Then before I could stop myself, I heard myself asking, “you?”</p><p>I don’t know what I was expecting. I mean, I know I have a nice bod. While being short and tiny, I have all the parts in the right proportion and toned nicely with all the time and sweat I spent in the gyms. I’d had compliments from people calling me having nice legs a few times, not just catcalls. And although I’m not busty as a lot of men prefer, I like my small boobs. They are healthy and in a lovely shape.</p><p>Even when I am confident to claim that I love my body and I look great, Raymond, on the other side, is on a complete different level. I feel like we are a lion and a weasel, a god and a gnome. Well, that might be too low and too drastic, but I did feel that way at the time. So after I asked him if he liked what he saw on me, I was very close to taking advantage of my petite form and crawling into the cracks of the pavement outside of the house.</p><p>“Yes. You look perfect, Lucy.” Raymond said with his eyes fixed on mine before he came down kissing me again.</p><p>I was on debate whether he was lying to me so I could less sorry for myself, but his words and kiss felt earnest. And then I thought, “well, if I really look bad and he still likes me, it’s on him, not me. Also based on his dressing style, I doubt that he has a bad taste for ladies.” </p><p>I was close to concluding my inner self-esteem argument but had to stop right away, as I felt Raymond’s fingers between my legs. Soon enough I melted completely with the sensation of his fingers touching me and slowly working their way inside. I moaned in his ear and tried to tell him to get inside of me immediately but was only able to make a series of incoherent high-pitched sound.</p><p>Raymond gave me a long wet kiss again before temperately left to grab a condom from wherever they were stored. And before I recovered from my heavy breathing, I felt his warm body on me again.</p><p>I pulled Raymond by the back of his neck and kissed him with a hunger I did not even recognize myself. At the same time, I spread open my legs and wrapped them on his hips, positioning myself to take him in.</p><p>However, Raymond did not proceed. He pulled back and gazed at me, hot breaths blowing on my cheek. I looked at him with questioning eyes and saw that he was about to say something. </p><p>“If you ask me again if I’m sure about this,” I threatened in gasps, “I’ll kick your balls.”</p><p>I glared at his amused face and reached up to kiss him again, shutting him up.</p><p>It felt like heaven when Raymond eased into me. It felt so good to be opened and filled up. I could feel him holding back by the way he was holding his breath as he lowered himself. So as a kind lady, I helped him by tightening my legs around him and pushed him in faster.</p><p>We both groaned and let out a sigh when he’s finally fully inside of me. As he thrusted harder and harder into me, I buried my face in his neck as and closed the tiny gap between our torsos by hanging myself onto him with my arms tight on his back. </p><p>I could feel the orgasm building up as he repetitively hit that one sweet spot. I did not want to come so fast, but after me going celibate for almost a year, it was not really my call to decide when certain things like this. So I let the animal nature take over, and shivered through my earth-quaking climax.</p><p>In the end, I came three times, the second one on top of Raymond, and the third with him on top of me again. I had a vague recollection of him coming twice and afterwards collapsed beside me. I also remembered that we cuddled, with me being the little spoon and him the bigger one, and that he was pecking on my lips while we were recovering, fingers playing with my hair. </p><p>I really should have appreciated that more, but at the moment I was too spent and fell into a deep slumber very soon.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So...believe it or not, this thing actually has a plot going on...and I will get to it more in the next chapter.<br/>Enjoy some more fluff for now!<br/>Thank you!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, I woke up with a headful of bird nest hair, stretching and feeling my muscles so sore that I thought I did a full-body workout session the night before. Then as my brain woke up along the way, I started to remember bits and pieces of last night. I froze in shock for a second, then rigidly looked around and found myself under the duvet on a soft king-sized bed. And I was alone.</p><p>For a brief moment I was just confused about wondering where Raymond went, but soon calmed down as I heard soft music playing outside the room, and smelled the delicious smell of breakfast and morning coffee.</p><p>I sighed and settled my head back in the pillows. After lying half awake for another 5 minutes or so, I woke up completely. Yarning and rubbing my eyes, I suddenly remembered something, I still had my makeup on. Fully knowing that this was not some romance movie where girls’ faces always covered in intact makeup, I got in full-on panic mode.</p><p>After making sure Raymond was definitely not anywhere close, I sprinted to the door butt-naked. I peeked out and located the bathroom like a girl scout, then tiptoed inside. Making sure the door was locked behind me, I rushed to the mirror and looked at my reflection in horror. </p><p>But in the end, I did not look that bad. There were obvious smudges of mascara and liners under the outer corner of my eyes, but they somehow made me look edgy and messy in a good way. However, the foundation was almost completely gone, let alone blush. Although I looked okay, I could hear the makeup residue on my face screaming at me “if you don’t get us off now, we will RUIN you!”</p><p>For a brief moment I thought about sneaking out the house and leaving without telling Raymond, like how Cinderella did at the ball, without crystal heels or a pumpkin carriage. But then I called myself an idiot for even thinking of that idea. Apart from not knowing where I was or where to go, how was I supposed to sneak out without Raymond knowing. Stealth was never my traits, whereas Raymond probably was very sharp and observant.</p><p>And on top of that, I was not ready to leave yet. I wanted to spend more time with Raymond. But definitely not like this. There had to be a way to fix this. I started to look around to see if there was anything I could use to fix my face, but was not able to get my hands on any drawers or cabinets because I did not really feel comfortable rummaging in Raymond’s house.</p><p>All of a sudden, I spotted a tray on the counter by the sink. I took a closer look and found out in surprise that there was a full kit of travel-size female skin-care and basic makeup products. And they were from fancy brands, not the cheap ones from the drug store. And I even found the tinted BB cream that might work just fine with my skin tone.</p><p>For a minute, I was in utter cunfusion. A couple of theories went through my head. Was this a turf claiming thing, as if some lady left these here to warn me? Or did Raymond had a lot of lady friends coming over to spend the night so he was always prepared?</p><p>I knew it was really none of my business, and I had no reason to get upset about this. Why would I? We only slept once and I would be gone in 3 months. I was nowhere close to being his girlfriend, a friend (also might be a stretch) with benefit, tops. Also, if I really wanted to know, I should just ask him, since I had been blunt and aggressive with him since the beginning. Why start to play the guessing game now?</p><p>As an attempt to calm myself down, I took the time for a shower and going through my normal skin care and makeup routines as much as I was allowed with the products available. When I went back to the bed room wrapped in a towel, it had only been 30 minutes, and the time was just a quarter to 10. I looked at myself in the mirror on the dresser and found myself almost as presentable as yesterday.</p><p>After spending another couple of minutes drying my hair, I looked around in the room to find something to wear. Looking out the window and seeing that it looked wet and foggy, I suspected it rained late last night or early this morning, which meant that I was not going to survive in my summer dress. As I sighed and looked down on the floor, I saw the cardigan. And on a whim, I looked back on the bench by the bed and found Raymond’s shirt he was wearing yesterday. An idea formed in my head. I quickly ditched the towel and put on my underwear. Then I rightfully grabbed Raymond’s shirt and buttoned it on, before I picked up the cardigan and put it on as well.</p><p>The shirt and the cardigan were both long enough to cover my thighs, so I just wore them as dresses with my bare legs, not like I had pants to begin with anyways. And after adjusting everything in place, I could not help but played with the long sleeves for a couple of minutes, they reminded me of the gowns those beautiful maidens in Beijing Opera. I always played with my dad’s shirt when I was a little kid, pretending to be one.</p><p>Anyways, when I came downstairs to look for Raymond, the kitchen was empty. Then I saw an empty cup left by the side of a pot of coffee on the counter. After pouring myself a cup, I looked around to see where he was. As I took a sip from the cup and turned around, I saw through the glass door that Raymond was in the front garden, under a tent. He was cooking something on a stove plus bench looking thing.</p><p>Just as I walked to the glass door, Raymond looked up and turned to my direction. He stared at me for a few seconds, looking at me up and down, then eventually raised his hand to adjust his glasses and greeted, “Good morning, Lucy.”</p><p>“Good morning, Raymond.” I said, smiling at him, and stepped outside.</p><p>It was chilly with the autumn breeze, but I felt pretty comfortable in the Raymond’s sweater and shirt. I just ignored the chill and goosebumps on my legs. </p><p>“What are you making?” I asked as I stood beside him, “is there anything I can help you with?”</p><p>Raymond looked at me up and down again and took a deep breath before he said, “food will be ready in no time, just take a seat and warm yourself up.” He gestured toward the wood bench behind him with the tong in his hand.</p><p>I nodded agreeably and sat down close to him on the bench. Sipping the coffee from my cup, I looked at the table closely and found out that it was a stove/barbecue with real fire underneath and a chimney in the middle reaching out from the tent, and that it would also keep the guests warm with the fire.</p><p>“Oh, this is a clever piece of furniture,” I marvelled at the multi-functional gear, feeling the fire warming my legs.</p><p>“Yes, it is.” Raymond nodded slightly.</p><p>“You know, you are quiet a gentleman, Raymond, being all versatile and considerate, with your furniture and your lady friends,” I said with a shrewd smile, emphasizing the plural part of “friends”, and took another sip of my coffee.</p><p>Raymond looked up for a second, and then looked down at me. “What are you talking about?” he asked, frowning.</p><p>I shrugged, “I saw the tray in your bathroom, quite thoughtful.”</p><p>“Ah,” Raymond nodded knowingly, "they are not for any other ladies, Lucy.”</p><p>I stared at him with wide eyes, "say what now?”</p><p>“I told you last night, I planned to call you on Friday, and I got those for you before that.” Raymond explained.</p><p>For a full three minutes I went dumbfounded. I did not how to proceed the fact that Raymond spent time and effort preparing for my coming over to spend the night and shopping for the cosmetics for me. </p><p>While I was exhausting myself doing the mental gymnastics, trying to understand and react to Raymond’s comment, Raymond looked over at me and smirked, “did I break you?”</p><p>I shook my head and blinked, coming back to earth. “Maybe a little bit, but I am still correct though,” I finally said, as a lame attempt to retort.</p><p>“About?” Raymond tilted his head and raised his brows.</p><p>“You are, indeed, versatile and considerate, with at least one lady,” I smiled at him and said, “I’m very impressed. I have never seen any dude doing this for their women.”</p><p>“Well, what else can I say? Welcome to the new world, I guess.” Raymond smiled and shrugged. And I chuckled, remembering that I said the exact same thing to Raymond. </p><p>We stayed silent for another couple of minutes, with the sizzling of sausages and steaks being fried on the barbecue and the quiet cracklings of the firewood. Everything seemed so tranquil and joyful, except for the gears in my brain fusing with smoke trying to rotate and process all the nice things Raymond had done for me.</p><p>I had warned myself since the beginning over and over again that I could not be attached to him. I had had the principle to make this only a sexual relationship with Raymond since the moment I discovered my pining for him. Well, that would be on the ground of us both consensually being satisfied from the sex, of course. Speaking for myself, I was, very much. And if I was allowed to take an educated guess, I’d say the same about him.</p><p>We simply could not be romantic, not only for the reason that I would be gone in 3 months, but also because of his occupation. I am in no way a person that would enjoy a life of an outlaw. Then you could argue that in that case I should have stayed away had I known what he did for a living. Well, first of all, I did not know what his profession was. Secondly, if you saw him with your own eyes, you could understand how irresistible he was. One can only take precautions so far.</p><p>However, up till then, despite my warnings and principles, all we were doing were romantic things. Thinking about our time together since the beginning, everything was like the scenes you would see in a romance movie, him protecting me from thugs, taking me to dinners, mixing drinks for me, making love to me, making food for me, and even just the little thing, wrapping me in his clothes. All those things just made my heart race and brain fuzzy. Then how could I, a girl who had been wrongfully cultivated in daydreams about Disney princes and chivalrous knights since I was a kid, not feel head over heals for him? </p><p>As I watched Raymond gracefully fliping a steak in the pan, having the revelation that I might have just fallen in love with this man, then in turn feeling the defeat of me breaking my own laws, I started to get mad at both us, for my falling, and for his causing the falling. And along with the the rage, came the resentment and push-back. Before I knew it, I started fidgeting irritably, and my breath getting uneven.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Raymond asked as he slid the plate of food in front of me.</p><p>I looked up at him, taking deep breaths, realizing what I was doing and trying my best to calm down, but got surprised as he leaned in and kissed me. I paralyzed when I felt his soft lips pressing on mine. Closing my eyes and parting my lips, I started to feel comforted and calmed as he pecked on my lower lips.</p><p>Eventually we separated. I kept my eyes close, feeling his fingertips caressing my face. I shivered, taking a deep breath, and said, “sorry, must be low blood sugar. I’m starving.” I opened my eyes and looked up at Raymond, watching him staring at me with soft and concerned eyes, I felt a stab of guilt inside. Fortunately, Raymond seemed to buy it.</p><p>“Well then, I hope you like a full British fry-up.” Raymond smiled and gestured at the plate in front of me.</p><p>It was a full plate of heavenly greasy goodness, probably best British breakfast I had since I got to London. Everything was perfectly done. As I took the last bite of the sausage, I looked at Raymond elegantly cutting into his steak, I couldn’t help but wonder what he could possibly be not good at.</p><p>I rubbed my belly over the sweater after I finished all the food and pushed the plate away. Stretching my legs under the table, getting as close as I could to the fire but not too close that I would burn myself, I sighed in satisfaction, “well, that was heavenly. Thank you, Ray.”</p><p>Raymond looked over and smiled at me, “my pleasure. I’m glad you liked it.”</p><p>“Liked it? Are you kidding me? They are the best fry-up I’ve ever had!” I exclaimed. Then feeling my round belly under my palm, and looking at Raymond’s stupidly handsome face, reminiscing the view from last night, I started to get self-conscious all of a sudden.</p><p>“But seriously, if I keep eating like this, I really need to go back to the gym.” I said, pouting my lips, “it’s a shame that I could not find a gym that does short-term membership here. So I have to work out at my flat, but that would be me fighting against human nature. So far, Mr. Sloth 1, lazy Lucy nil.”</p><p>Raymond finished his food and wiped his lips with his napkin. Sitting right beside me, maybe just one or two inches away, he turned and looked down at my body and up at my face. I could see the amusement in his eyes. I put my hands on my thighs, trying to shield my legs futilely, and narrowed my eyes at him.</p><p>“I don’t know what you are talking about, Lucy.” Raymond smiled and shook his head, “first of all, you are petite, and you look perfect, I don’t see how you need to hit the gym and try to get fit. You are fit.”</p><p>“Oh why thank you.” I said with a big exaggerated smile.</p><p>Raymond shrugged and continued, "but if you really feel like going to the gym,” he tilted his head toward the house, “I have a gym at home. You are always welcome to work out here.”</p><p>I was surprised as I heard him say that, but at the same time not really. I was not surprised knowing that Raymond had an in-house gym, but more so hearing him say that he would want me to work out at his place, meaning spending more time with him, more regularly. Once again, I saw the light beaming through the gate of the romance palace I just tried so hard to shut close. So to save myself from another round of spiralling, I decided to get naughty instead.</p><p>“Well, I do appreciate the offer, Ray,” I said to Raymond and leaned toward him with my arms folded on the table and my head rested on my forearms, looking up at him, “however, I think we might be doing something else to burn calories more efficiently here.” I finished and crossed my legs, with my ankle on the top brushing his calf just slightly.</p><p>Raymond took a deep breath, swallowed, and said quietly, “I think you might be correct.”</p><p>We stared at each other in silence, until I bursted into laughters, not believing what I just said. I buried my face in my arms and kept laughing for a while longer and finally looked up at him again, trying to be serious, “but seriously, I do need to go back to the gym though. Do you know any place?”</p><p>Raymond smiled and sighed helplessly, then adjusted his glasses. He looked at me and asked, “I do know someone that might be able to help.”</p><p>“Really?” I sat straight and leaned closer to him.</p><p>“Yes,” Raymond smiled and nodded, “and I hope you enjoy boxing,” Raymond said before he leaned in to kiss me.</p><p>I wanted to ask him more, but instead moaned into his mouth as I felt his warm hands sliding from my knees, up to my thighs then under the shirt around my waist.</p><p>“Ray,” I trembled at his touch and whispered his name quietly after he let go of my lips.</p><p>“You’re not dressed for the weather, Lucy,” Raymond said as he pulled me onto his laps, “I can see that you are getting cold,” he said as he pulled me in for another kiss, hands caressing my back, “let me warm you up again.” </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Well, I know I said that I would get to more plot the last time...<br/>I'm building it up...<br/>We'll get to the major climax in the next one...<br/>So...enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>We did not talk much afterwards that day. Then when Raymond dropped me off at my apartment after sunset, he told me that he would pick me up from work on Tuesday to meet Coach (yes, that’s the name of the person) for workout.</p><p>I did not really know what to expect from this workout thing. I asked him about this under the influence of sex, food, and my trying to get out of my rabbit hole of falling for him, and I was probably still under the same influence by the time I got a message from Raymond on Tuesday evening.</p><p>“Here, Raymond.”</p><p>I stared at my screen for one full minute, apparently having lost my ability to read, then all of a sudden realized what it was all about.</p><p>“Oh shit,” I said under my breath and rushed to the window, trying to find Raymond under the building from the 12th floor, and at the same time realizing that I did not bring any gym clothes.</p><p>After picking up my gym equipments from my apartment, Raymond drove me to a strip mall looking compound.</p><p>“Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat before this?” Raymond asked again as he turned off the engine.</p><p>I looked out the window trying to make out where the gym was, but could not even find a sign anywhere. I looked back at Raymond, frowning and confused, and shook my head.</p><p>Raymond pursed his lips, but eventually nodded and got off the car.</p><p>Following Raymond walking in the building and through the vacant stores, we wound down the stairs to the underground floor. As we got downstairs, I started to hear sounds of seemingly boxing gloves hitting the pads, laughters of youngsters, and men yelling at each other.</p><p>I started to get more and more nervous, and subconsciously walked closer to Raymond, using him as an obstacle to hide myself, and hanging onto his sleeve like a little child going to the classroom on her first day of school.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Raymond looked back at me and asked, looking amused and also a bit concerned.</p><p>I looked up at him and shrugged, pretending to be carefree and strong but still not letting go of him, “yeah, of course.”</p><p>But truth be told, I was not okay. More and more I started to regret this and wonder what the hell I signed myself up to. Also at the same time, I was reminded of the fact that I was terrible at sports. First of all, being a skittish person, I get scared by sudden movements way too often to do sports. Then secondly, my sense of balance is next to none, for which I only finally learnt to ride a bike after I turned 13, whereas all my friends started to bike around at 5 or 6. As a result of the combination of the two factors above, I avoided doing almost any sports, except for jogging, which I love because I have functional legs and the will to run in solitary. Same reason why I love to go to the gym, it requires more no-brainer practice than complex skills.</p><p>So coming back to reality at the moment, I could not help but ask myself over and over again, what the hell was I thinking?</p><p>Finally we arrived at a huge door where all the noise were from. Raymond looked back at me, seeing me shining a big fake smile at him, shook his head and turned back to push the door open.</p><p>Instantly, as if someone turned up the volume of the world, the sound of people’s voices and strikes against leather equipments got 10 times more intense, almost deafening. I stuck my fingers in my ears trying to block the sound, but then soon enough found it unnecessary as everyone inside stopped what they were doing seeing us walk in, more precisely, seeing Raymond walk in.</p><p>Inside the so-called gym, there was a huge training area, with all sorts of equipments on the shelves against the walls, two huge rings in the middle, and different sections of training areas around them. There were around 10 to 15 people inside, mostly young men, training inside. I looked around the room, awing at the sight.</p><p>“Coach!” </p><p>I jumped hearing the voice. A massive black dude standing close to us shouted in the direction somewhere inside the room. And I got scared again hearing anther voice answering him.</p><p>“What is it, Ernie!”</p><p>Hearing the voice, I had a weird feeling that I had heard this voice before. Then when a man walking out, dressed in a brown polo and brown flannel jogger, a pair of thick-rim glasses, and a bucket hat, my chin dropped as I remembered.</p><p>“Oh, you! The gentleman from the pub!” I said in surprise and pointed to the man.</p><p>He was the kind man in the Irish pub, who tried to escort me out to a safe spot.</p><p>The man named Coach, as I assumed, frowned and stared at me in confusion, so was everyone else including Raymond. I looked around and got self-conscious, and apologized.</p><p>“Sorry,” I said quietly and made a face.</p><p>After a few seconds of recollecting, Coach made a silent “oh” face, indicating that he remembered me, and walked up to us.</p><p>“Ray.”</p><p>“Coach.”</p><p>Both Raymond and Coach nodded to each other. </p><p>“What brought you here? And who is this bold young lady?” Coach asked and nodded at me.</p><p>“You two have met?” Raymond asked, looking at me and then at Coach.</p><p>I explained, “remember that one time when Bunny called you? Coach here was at the pub too, being a real gentleman trying to scoop me out to a safe spot.”</p><p>“Yeah, what a coincidence.” Coach shrugged carelessly and then turned to Raymond again, “what do you need, Ray?”</p><p>“Well, first of all, Coach, this is Lucy. Lucy, Coach.” Raymond gestured between us and introduced. </p><p>“Nice to see you again, Coach.” I said with a big smile and reached out my hand to Coach.</p><p>“My honor,” Coach said with a slight nod and took my hand. He looked at Raymond with raised eyebrows after letting go of my hand.</p><p>“Lucy is a close friend of mine,” Raymond said, ignoring that both Coach and I looked at him in surprise, and continued, “and she would like to train with you for boxing.”</p><p>Honestly, I was genuinely surprised by him calling me his close friend, actually not sure what I expected he would call me, definitely not girlfriend for sure. I was not stupid. At the same time, Coach looked at both of us, not buying the friend thing at all. I suspected that he knew right away what was going on with us.<br/>Without saying anything, Coach pursed his lips and nodded, then looked at me for a few seconds, inspecting.</p><p>“That’s it?” Coach finally asked Raymond.</p><p>Raymond nodded matter-of-factly, while I felt weird and gave Coach a look. </p><p>What the hell was that?</p><p>“Well, I thought it would be something much bigger.” Coach sighed and clapped his hands together.</p><p>I raised my eyebrows at him, “did I miss anything? Is this a weird pun or something?”</p><p>“No, no pun intended,” Coach explained awkwardly, “it’s just whenever Ray pays us a visit, we will be expecting some big issues.”</p><p>“Oh, gotcha,” I nodded, not really understanding what he really meant, but I had a vague feeling that it had something to do with Raymond’s business. Then that’s really not my business.</p><p>“okay now, the change room is down the corridor,” Coach pointed at the far side of the room, and said, “go change, and the training begins in 15 mins.”</p><p>I nodded and was ready to go, but then suddenly realized something.</p><p>“Oh, by the way, before we start, I have one question,” I asked awkwardly.</p><p>“What is it?” Coach asked.</p><p>“How much should I pay you for one class? Or an hour?” I asked with a smile.</p><p>“There is no charge.” Coach said matter-of-factly.</p><p>“Wait, you train people for free?” I asked in a surprise.</p><p>“Yes and no. And or most of my lads, yes,” Coach shook his head, “and you, since you’re with Ray, and I owe him favors.”</p><p>“Well, you owe him favors, not me. So I should pay you.” I said with a shrug, crossing my arms on my chest, refusing to give up.</p><p>Coach and Raymond exchanged a look, and I saw that Raymond shrugged helplessly. Coach stared at me with a deep frown for a short while, and finaly spoke again.</p><p>“How about this? As you can see, I need to expand my demographic pool, meaning I need more lady trainees like you,” Coach said and guestured toward the training area. And I had to agree with him, seeing only two girls whom I waved and smiled at, and who waved back at me with sweet smiles.</p><p>Coach continued, “I could use you as my poster girl, do some show-and-tell, spreading the good words. And that’s called promotion, and promotion brings money. And we could use that as your payment. How about that?”</p><p>Staring at Coach, I could not help but laugh, “well, I appreciate your vote of confidence, thinking I could be your poster girl and whatnot. Thank you,” I said with a curtesy, “but don’t get your hope up high. I warn you, I’ll be bad at this.” I said, looking all sincere and serious.</p><p>“No, I’m not being confident about you, I’m confident about me.” Coach said. Then before I could open my mouth again, he clapped his hands together loudly, “enough of chitchat. Now you have less than 10 minutes.”</p><p>“Yes, Coach!” I said loudly, snapped to attention and gave him a quick salute before I turned to run to the change room.</p><p>“Good girl.”</p><p>I heard Coach as I ran away, and caught him flinch as Raymond gave him the death glare.</p><p>It took me less than 5 minutes to change into my gym clothes and put my hair in a neat French braid. When I got out and walked back, I saw a young man standing right beside Coach, and Raymond was nowhere to be seen.</p><p>Coach must have seen me looking around for Raymond, and said to me, “Ray got a call from his boss and left. He said that he’d be back when the training is over, meaning in 2 hours.”</p><p>I nodded knowingly, and turned to Coach and the young man, trying to focus on the issue at hand, aka. how the fuck am I supposed to survive this?</p><p>The young man Coach assigned to me as my training buddy was called Prime-Time, and his main goal of that day, as it turned out, was to get me to do cross-fitting tracks until I would collapse. As Coach instructed before I started, the first two weeks would be nothing but strength training, and then the boxing techniques would come in afterwards.</p><p>In the end, when we hit the two hours mark, I got a respectful high-five from Prime-Time, and a share from the boys who won the bet on whether I would survive two hours. Apparently the wager on me not making it was really, really high.</p><p>When Raymond came back to pick me up, I was lying on my back gulping in air on the mat, trying to get my breath back, soaked in sweat. I had my eyes closed but felt someone blocking the light in front of me. Prying my eyes open and squinted, I saw Raymond looking down at me with his eyes narrowed.</p><p>“Had fun?” Raymond asked, smiling.</p><p>“You have an evil definition of fun,” I said and rolled my eyes at him as I sat up, “actually, it was fun. Except that I can barely feel my legs, and now I can’t walk.”</p><p>Wiping the sweat off my forehead and neck using the towel, I looked around the room and up at Raymond, "Can you do me a favor and see if you can find a wheelchair somewhere?”</p><p>“For?” Raymond asked me with a frown.</p><p>“I told you, I can’t walk.” I said，throwing up my hands.</p><p>“I can carry you.” Raymond said and kneeled down beside me.</p><p>I shifted away as far as I could manage with my noodly arms, and held up my hand to stop him, “no, I’m sweaty and disgusting. You don’t want to touch me right now.”</p><p>I did not know anything about Raymond’s OCD back then, but his whole image just gave out clean freak vibe to me. So the last thing I wanted at the time was for him to touch me and be disgusted. Also, there were still people around. I just won some respect from the people here, and would hate to lose that so quickly.</p><p>Raymond looked at me with a frown, trying to decipher my facial expression and figure out what to do about me. In the mean time, I felt that I had regained some strength to support me walking back to the change room.</p><p>I sighed in relief and reached out my hand to Raymond. Without hesitance, he took my hand and pulled me up from the ground. I ignored the trembling in my thighs and my knees, and nodded toward the door at Raymond, “see you at the door. I’ll be out in a few minute.”</p><p>“Are you sure you don’t need a hand?” Raymond asked, looking at me with concerned eyes.</p><p>“Come on, don’t be absurd.” I said, acting tough and pulling my hand out of his grip, and walked to the change room in snail speed.</p><p>After getting out the gym, Raymond took me to a cafe to get some food, and then drove me back to my flat. Although I really wanted to go back to his place, at that point I was literally like a zombie and I would be really concerned if Raymond still wanted to have sexy time with me like that. Thankfully, he did not. Outside the flat, he helped me out the car and kissed me goodbye, telling me to take a hot bath and sleep tight.</p><p>Since then, a routine was set. I would train with Coach 3 times a week, every other day through Tuesday to Saturday. And then after the training I would be spending the night at Raymond’s place, plus all day during the weekends. I originally thought it might be better to be with him the next day, but I could not be more wrong.</p><p>I thought being all limp and noodly after training was bad, until the next day of sore and stiff muscles hit and turned me into a real-life walking dead. Also, I completely ignored the magic of adrenaline boost right after the physical activity that would get me going for a full hour before I face-planted and fell into the coma. Raymond and I could do a lot of things within that hour. Moreover, Raymond was a great massagist, which I was not surprised at.</p><p>What I really surprised at was the pattern we fell into. The life we started to have together. The fixated time we spent with each other. The stuff we would do together during that time. Of course, sex would take up the majority. But it was not all about that. There were times when we would just cuddle on the couch, make out, and watch whatever was playing on TV. And sometimes I would just work to make up the time I spent in the office staring at my screen daydreaming, when I would crawl up on the couch with my laptop on my lap and work, with Raymond sitting right next to me, watching TV dramas or reading newspaper and sipping his Scotch, until he’d be bored and get underneath my shirt.</p><p>Those things were too much for me to process, too comfortable, too intimate. At one moment I almost had a panic attack when I was alone in my own room, thinking I might not be able to leave this behind when the time came, with the thought of Raymond having no problem ditching this, whatever this. What was I supposed to do then? Then the next day when I saw Raymond smiling at me when I walked out the office building, I was enlightened. </p><p>Carpe Diam.</p><p>Cliche, isn’t it? But it got a point. Instead of dwelling on the thought of tears and goodbyes, why would I not just enjoy the moment of happiness at the time? And even if it would be an ugly departure, at least I had it once, better than had nothing at all. I could do this, I told myself as I ran to Raymond and gave him a big kiss.</p><p>Good thing that I am not a dwellor. Also, soon enough my training with coach advanced into the actual boxing techniques, which got me preoccupied enough to not overthink. </p><p>The training itself was a lot of fun, really useful tactics that I could use in real life, which I thought was perfect and was about to show Raymond what I learnt and tease him about me beefing up my self-defence skills so eventually he would not have to bother his buddies to follow me around.</p><p>However, what I did not account for was that I had delicate skin, not so much as I would have terrible scars for small wounds. But I would get much worse bruises than normal people. And we did a lot of practices that were bruise triggering.</p><p>Later that night, when I was well spent by the class and more activities with Raymond, I was lying on my stomach in nothing but my underwear, mindlessly staring at my phone, half dozed off, I heard Raymond come into the room. I was waiting to crawl into his arms once he got in the bed, but I did not feel the expected sink beside me. </p><p>Feeling Raymond’s gaze on me, I thought that he was simply enjoying the view, so I rolled on my side slowly, trying to be seductive, but involuntarily froze once I saw Raymond was looking at me with angry and concerned eyes. </p><p>“What’s wrong?” I got confused and asked.</p><p>Without saying anything, Raymond walked slowly to me and sat on the bed. He reached out his hand and pulled me back on my stomach again. Feeling his fingers touching the the center and lower part of my back gently, I turned my head around trying to see what was there, but could not see anything. And as I braced myself up, I heard a sharp inhale from Raymond. Following his gaze on my body, I looked down and finally understood what was going on.</p><p>Under my right collar bone to my chest and under my ribs to my stomach on the left side, there was one big patch of bruise in scarlet color in each area, quite dreadful looking. And I suspected that there was something similar on my back as well. They must be from the few times, well many times, when I failed to dodge the attacks from Prime-Time, and got hit. I did not even feel them until now. Running my fingers on the bruises myself, I could feel the tenderness and the mild tinge under the skin. But it was not bad at all, just looked awful.</p><p>“Oops,” I shrugged and made a face carelessly.</p><p>“Oops?” Raymond frowned at me and said in asked in a straight face, “who did this?”</p><p>“It’s nothing,” I said and shrugged again, “it’s my first day of boxing training today. And I just have really delicate skin. I get bruises a lot.”</p><p>Raymond kept staring at me without saying anything.</p><p>I sighed, sitting up, and said quietly, “hey, it’s really nothing. Doesn’t even hurt. See?” I said as I poked myself on the ribs, and flinched feeling the pain. I did not expect that.</p><p>Raymond swallowed and stood up. I grabbed his hand before he walked away.</p><p>“Where are you going?” I asked. I started to get worried that he might do something bad, seeing this murderous look on his face.</p><p>“I’m making a call to Coach.” Raymond said quietly.</p><p>“No, don’t.” I shook my head frentically, “it’s okay. they did not do this on purpose,” I tried to explain, “come on Ray, you must have been through this yourself. If you are training to fight, you will get black-and-blues. It’s inevitable. It’s just I’m easier to get them. More of a me problem than them.”</p><p>I looked Raymond in his eyes and felt that he was not moving away, so I slowly pulled and swayed his hand back and forth, trying to calm him down.</p><p>Raymond sighed and sat back down. I took the chance and crawled on top of him, straddling on his crotch. Cupping his face in my hands, I kissed him softly, and finally felt him relax and have his hands on my hips.</p><p>“Can you be more careful next time?” Raymond said quietly with his eyes closed. Then he opened them, staring at me, and asked again, “or maybe you should stop doing this?”</p><p>“No?” I said, frowning at him, "like I said, it’s inevitable. It’s okay, Raymond. You’re overreacting.”</p><p>Raymond squeezed his eyes shut a couple of times before he said grumpily, “I just don’t like to see you hurt.”</p><p>“I’m not hurt,” I smiled at him, sitting up to show him the bruises, “by the way, do you not think they look cool? Like, come on, look how tough I look! Like a real gangster, right?”</p><p>“Lucy,” Raymond called me and pulled me closer to him with his hands on my back. He stared at me for a while, and finally buried his face in my neck.</p><p>I heard his muffled voice, “what am I supposed to do with you?”</p><p>I had no idea how to react to that, but it hit me like a train. It’s a peculiar thing to feel being cherished and loved. Although I was not sure at the time whether it was possessiveness or love that Raymond had for me, I got gooey and filled with emotions.</p><p>I did not know what to say so I found his lips and kissed him with all the feelings I had. Kissing me back with the same passion, Raymond pressed me down on the mattress carefully, trying to avoid my bruises. </p><p>Then we made love again, and it was the best sex I’ve ever had.</p><p>Things did not change much after that. I promised Raymond that I would be more careful, but I kept getting bruises, and Raymond learnt quickly not to comment on them but just gave me frowns after I growled at him when he was trying to say something for the next couple of times.</p><p>Another week passed by and for a brief moment, I thought I was finally having a good time, and had it figured out.</p><p>Wait a sec, Let’s take a step back. There is a friendly suggestion from me, a silly girl who fell in love with a dangerous stranger, and thought that she had her life figured out for at least just a couple of months. My suggestion is no, never think like that. Never think that you have your life figured out. Because as a wicket elf that life is, it will show you that you will never figure it out just when you have the thought of that.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey friends! This chapter has some major plot going!<br/>Also a very important message for you.<br/>Not sure if this is how trigger warning works, but...<br/>Well just a fair warning, there will be plot about kidnapping and violence...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was Tuesday night on the third week into my boxing training, in the middle of my combination routine, I saw a new dude coming in the gym. It was a young man, probably just out of his adolescent life, looking different from most of the youngsters around.</p><p>“Who’s that, Prime-Time?” I asked, nodding toward the kid, who was on his way walking toward the change room. Coach was walking beside him, making his iconic half-mockery, half-inspirational pep talk. I could not really make out what he was saying, but he had this look on his face whenever he was giving a speech to his trainees.</p><p>Prime-Time looked over for a second and turned back to me. He shrugged and said, “Donno. Some brat from some rich family. Royalties, I guess.”</p><p>“Royalties?” I repeated with widened eyes, “wait, I thought coach only takes in young lads like you. Handsome but lost young souls, you know.” I dodged a blow from Prime and added, winking.</p><p>“Nah,” Prime-Time smiled and shook his head, “Coach took us in to make the good chaps out of us. But he’s not some hypocrite philanthropist, he needs money to run the gym. Hence, chaps like that,” Prime-Time stretched his arms and said, “actually, your man and his boss gave Coach the connection for those.”</p><p>I made a face hearing Prime-Time call Raymond my man, but shrugged it off and asked, “what connection?”</p><p>“Donno,” Prime-Time shrugged and said, “I only knew that from time to time we would have some rich brats sent here to train with us. They got straightened by Coach, and their parents pay us good money. That’s it.”</p><p>I nodded in acknowledgement, wondering if that was what Coach meant by owing Raymond favors back then.</p><p>A few minutes later, the same kid walked back in his training gears and Coach introduced him to us. His name was Justin and he was there to train at the gym for at least a month. We awkwardly greeted to each other like kindergarten kids.</p><p>At that moment, looking at the young man closely, I had a weird feeling that I had seen him from somewhere, but could not quite remember where or when. He was a handsome kids, so maybe he was one of the British actors or singers I had seen on the Internet somewhere, I thought to myself.</p><p>While I was trying to get rid of this peculiar thought out of my head, our eyes met and I saw that his face went rigid for a second, but then before I started to get suspicious, the kid threw me a flirtatious wink and a charming smile, which got me a bit flattered. And right afterwards, he got a smack on the head from Coach, warning him that he should not fuck with anyone in the gym, especially this chick, meaning me. Then of course, it got me even more uncomfortable, and completely forgot that suspicious nudge in my head about this Justin kid.</p><p>Then on Thursday night, while I was jogging around the ring as my warm up, Coach called me in his office, saying that Raymond called. I got in there and took the receiver from him. Coach walked out right afterwards.</p><p>“Hey, Ray. What’s up?” I asked, trying to breathe evenly.</p><p>“Sorry, Lucy, but I won’t be able to pick you up tonight.” Raymond said, and I could hear the guilt in his voice.</p><p>I smiled, “it’s okay. I just feel bad for poor Bunny.”</p><p>“Bunny won’t be able to make it either. Big event at the boss's tonight.” Raymond said quietly.</p><p>“Oh, okay. Have fun then.” I said, a bit sad thinking I would not be able to see Raymond today, “I’ll just call a cab and get back to my place. No big deal.”</p><p>“No, I already talked to Coach. He’ll drive you back to my place after the training.” Raymond said.</p><p>“It’s okay, Ray. If you are busy, I can just go back to my place. I’ll see you on Saturday.” I shrugged.</p><p>“No, Lucy.” Raymond said simply.</p><p>I raised my eyebrows and waited, but nothing came back. I could not help but smile and tease him, “oh, Ray. You just can’t get enough of me, can you?”</p><p>“That is not incorrect.” Raymond said after a long pause of silence.</p><p>I chuckled and imagined him adjusting his glasses awkwardly, blinking a couple of times. It was a sign of him being helpless and uncomfortable, which I picked up after a couple of weeks being with him.</p><p>“Okay, I’ll let Coach drive me.” I said, “I’ll see you soon, Ray.”</p><p>“Bye, Lucy.” Raymond said quietly.</p><p>He did not hang up. I waited a couple of seconds and blowed a kiss before I finally put down the receiver. I stood there with a big goofy smile on my face until Coach came back, looking all angry and irritated. I thought he was to shoo me out back to training, so I raised my hands and tried to get out as fast as I could. But he stopped.</p><p>“Wait, Lucy,” Coach said, “we have an issue at hand.”</p><p>“Which is?” I asked in confusion.</p><p>“Earnie took my car yesterday and totalled it.” Coach huffed helplessly.</p><p>“Ah,” I realized what he meant and nodded. “It’s okay,” I shrugged, “I’ll take a cab. No biggy.”</p><p>“No, Ray has got my word. I will take you home.” Coach said, frowning.</p><p>“Well, there is not much you can do, Coach. You don’t have a car.” I said matter-of-factly, “Also, what's wrong with you gentlemen, not trusting a woman being able to get herself home safe? You and Ray. It’s kind of sexist, you know.”</p><p>“No, that is not sexist, Lucy.” Coach said in disagreement, trying to reason with me, “we are not saying no women can get themselves home safe, we are only being specific to you. And that is out of the familiar affection and the concern of the reality you are in, being close to that geezer, Ray.”</p><p>“Okay, got it, Coach.” I said with a big sigh, “so, do you have any backup plan?”</p><p>“That’s the issue at hand,” Coach said, “I have a van but it is in the shop currently and I don’t have another car.”</p><p>Suddenly, I saw a head pop in from the door, just when I was about to suggest that I could call a cab and we could go back in it together and have the cab drive him back then ask Raymond to pay him back for the cab.</p><p>“I can drive Lucy, Coach. I’ve got the car tonight.”</p><p>Both Coach and I looked over and saw Justin smiling at us sheepishly.</p><p>“Didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just heard you talking walking by.” Justin added, seeing Coach staring at him with narrowed eyes.</p><p>“It’s really kind of you, Justin. But I don’t wanna bug you.” I added, smiling at him with gratitude.</p><p>“Can I trust you, lad?” then Coach asked him with a straight face.</p><p>“It’s not a big deal. I don’t get a lot of chance to drive the car anyways. So I’d love a ride myself. And yes Coach, you can trust me. I remember, no fuck around with this lady.” Justin said, nodding at me solemnly.</p><p>I blushed and looked back at Coach. “What do you say, Coach?” I said to him.</p><p>Coach pondered for another few second, and finally said to me. “Okay, Justin can drive you. But text me once you arrive.”</p><p>“Yes, Coach.” I nodded and saluted at him.</p><p>“And thanks a lot, Justin!” I said to Justin as I walked out the office.</p><p>“You’re welcome, Lucy.” Justin smiled back at me.</p><p>You know, living in this world of high tech and everything in the cloud, we keep hearing things, like "oh there is no such thing as privacy any more, the big brother keeps watching us, the satellites and everything, or “oh don’t use cloud, it’s a trap for big corps to get your data and manipulate you”. Me as an engineer, working in this industry, can’t really tell you the truth, for I’m only scratching on the surface here. Yeah, big shocker, not all software engineers are hackers or computer experts. Actually, I can tell you that’s true. There is no privacy anymore. And that should be no news nowadays. </p><p>However, with all the conspiracies and warnings, personally, I still use cloud myself. I have nothing to hide, and I do like the benefit of the free, almost-unlimited space for my trash, photos, music, bootlegged movies, so on and so forth. Also, it makes sharing things with others much easier. A single link solves it all. But you are right, privacy is a thing. But there is only so much room for conspiracy, and for me as a naive person, believing human are good by nature (yeah Confucius stuff, duh), that room is extra small. Moreover, working in the industry also gives me the faith in the technologies behind the cloud security, also at the same time, I am care-free knowing that the footprint has been left anyways for the experts to find out, whether on the cloud or not, so why bother to worry.</p><p>So the last two paragraphs lead to one fact, I use Cloud myself heavily, and everything important has been organized in different folders on the Cloud with different access control for me, including the pictures I took the first night I met Raymond, the ones of the thugs that attacked us. I just never had a chance to share it with Raymond yet, since he did not ask for it from the beginning, and then I just forgot about it completely myself.</p><p>But the pictures were still there, lying in the folder, a click away from being shared to someone that can make use of it.</p><p>Okay, enough of catch-up. Let’s go back to the story.</p><p>that night after another “fun” and exhausting training session with Prime-Time, I was ready to get home and crash in Raymond’s arms. Then as I walked to the door mindlessly, I suddenly remembered that Raymond was not here to pick me up. I went to Coach’s office to say goodbye and saw Prime-Time at the desk staring at the screen, probably working on another remix from Ernie.</p><p>“Where’s Coach?” I asked.</p><p>“Donno.” Prime-Time said, still focused on the monitor.</p><p>“Alright. Good night, Prime-Time.” I said and waved to him as I walked out.</p><p>At the door, I saw that Justin was already waiting for me.</p><p>“Thanks again for giving me a ride, Justin.” I said to him with a big smile as I walked to him.</p><p>“No problem, Lucy.” Justin said.</p><p>As we walked out the door and into the parking lot, I got more awake and alerted because of the autumn wind and cold shower. I folded my arms on my chest as I followed Justin to his car. </p><p>As we got closer and closer to his car, a slick black Cadillac not far from us, I started to get more and more upset for no good reason. I was not sure if it was the dim light around the parking lot, or the crows croaking on the lamp posts, everything seemed too sinister. I looked back to the strip mall behind us, and looked up at Justin in front of me, just as he looked back and peeked at me. All of a sudden, I had a shiver.</p><p>I remembered at that moment. I remembered why I would feel the weird familiarity back when I first saw Justin. I had, indeed, seen him before. I saw him the first night I met Raymond, and he was the thug I maced. </p><p>Immediately my instinct kicked in and I realized that I was in great danger, although being utterly confused as I wondered how this could have happened. I thought it was all taken care of. Raymond said that. As the adrenaline exploded and rushed inside my body, I knew that it was not the point at the moment. The point was, Justin must have recognized me, and he had said to give me a ride not to drive me home, but to take me with him. He wanted something from me.</p><p>The pictures. He wanted the pictures.</p><p>With that revelation, I held my breath and took out my phone and secretly opened my cloud app and got the link to the photos and sent it to both Raymond and Coach.</p><p>“Lucy, is everything okay?”</p><p>I heard Justin’s voice, jumped and looked up at him. He was standing a bit far ahead. I must have stopped walking at some point without knowing.</p><p>“Yeah, everything’s fine.” I swallowed, cleared my throat and pointed back at the mall, “actually, I just got a text from Ray. He’s on the way to pick me up now. So I should get back to the gym and wait for him,” I lied, “sorry for the trouble, Justin. But thank you. Good night.” I said as I slowly retreated.</p><p>“Lucy, stop. I know that wanker is not coming back.” Justin said as he followed me a few steps, “They are at a ball right now, my parents are there too. I know you are lying.”</p><p>“No, you don’t know that.” I shook my head at him, and said with all the strength left in me, “and I am going back to the gym. I’m not coming with you. Sorry.”</p><p>Ladies and gentlemen, and all non-binary friends, if you are still reading at this point, please at least finish the next two paragraphs. </p><p>I know I have given you suggestions before. Whether you agree with me or not, you can ignore all those nonsense. But please read carefully what I am going to write. I am dead serious. </p><p>If you ever are in a situation as I was at the moment, facing someone who wants to take you hostage, trying to take you away, <span class="u"><em><strong>DO NOT</strong></em></span> let them! Fight with your life, scream at the top of your lungs to call for help, do whatever you can to not be taken away. You would rather get badly wounded and be left where you are than be taken by that person. Remember, if they take you, you are no longer a human being, you are only a piece of meat. And your life is highly likely to end right at the second when they take you away, all the time left for you is to kiss goodbye to the dearest world.</p><p>At that moment, I remembered that myself, knowing that I could not get in the car with him. Since there was no one around us, I needed to save myself.</p><p>And I really tried.</p><p>Staring at Justin, I was trying to find my way out. Running back to the gym seemed to be the best solution at the moment. Just as I was thinking how to take the chance and escape, Justin made the first move. </p><p>Seeing him take a step closer to me, I craned my head and pretended I saw some one behind him.</p><p>“Hey, who are you?” I yelled.</p><p>Seeing him took the bait and looked back, I dropped all my stuff and started sprinting back to the mall.</p><p>I am pretty nimble and can run at an above-average speed most of the time. But that is to be compared with other ladies at my size and age and when I am not exhausted from training for two hours. At that moment, I was on the worst condition. So it was not a surprise when Justin caught me not too far after I started running away and tried to grab me.</p><p>I fought back, using all the techniques learnt during the past few weeks from Coach. If he were there to witness, he would be proud of me. However, I was still a short tiny girl, against a over 6 feet tall, built young man. All I could do was slow him down a couple of minutes and maybe give him a black eye, and allow myself to scream “help” out to the void.</p><p>As he had his arm around my neck and raised me off the ground, I knew I was doomed. But still, I was kicking and thrashing, trying my best to get out of his grip, till my vision got fuzzy and eventually lost consciousness.</p><p>At that moment in the gym, as Prime-Time told me when I eventually went back to training, he saw the message I sent to Coach on the computer, which had the single sign-on with Coach’s phone, and opened the link. He was very confused seeing the pictures, but luckily Coach came back to the gym, looking for me. He called Coach in the office, showed him the pictures, and saw Coach completely losing it seeing one of them, and yelling “shit” as he ran out of the gym.</p><p>I was woken up by a slap on my face. Moaning and squinting my eyes open, I looked around and slowly recognized that I was in a big steel box, a container more precisely, one of those you would see at the ports or on the freighters. I was sitting on a chair in the middle of it, hands bound at the back, and ankles tied to the chair.</p><p>After getting my breath back and finally regained a semi-clear mind, I looked up and saw Justin sat in front of me, staring at me angrily. Seeing my phone in his hand, I swallowed the copper taste of blood in my mouth and smiled at him. He must have tried to get the pictures out of my phone but failed. The only way to unlock my phone was through password, no facial recognition or touch Id.</p><p>“Wow, Justin, you are really a dumb kid.” I laughed and looked down, trying to act tough.</p><p>“What’s the passcode?” Justin stepped close to me and grabbed my hair, making me look up.</p><p>“Haven’t figured yourself yet?” I asked, raising my brows, mocking him.</p><p>“What is the passcode, you cunt?” Justin asked me angrily, and slapped me again.</p><p>“Ouch!” I yelled dramatically. It really hurt, but I did that more to put up a show.</p><p>“It doesn’t matter, kid,” I said before Justin made another move, “Raymond had got the pictures.”</p><p>“There is no point in lying, Lucy.” Justin smirked at me, “it did not work the last time, remember?”</p><p>“I’m not lying,” I shook my head with a benign smile, “I recognized you when we walked out the gym. A bit late, I have to say, but not too late since I got the time to send him the pictures.” </p><p>Seeing the panic in Justin’s eyes, I beamed at him in triumph, “if you don’t believe me, check yourself.” And then I told him the passcode.</p><p>“You bitch!” Justin yelled at me after checking my text history.</p><p>“Hey, language, you brat!” I yelled back.</p><p>We fell in silence afterwards. I adjusted myself on the chair, trying to sit up and get as comfortable as I could, and started to evaluate my physical status at the moment. Luckily, I was not in a lot of pain, only some numb throbbing in my chest. I suspected that I had some fractured ribs, if not broken. Then as I tried to move my limbs, I started to get more worried. I could feel a sharp pain on my left shoulder when I tried to move my left arm, and I could not move it. It must be dislocated. </p><p>Shit! I cursed under my breath and realized that I needed to go to the hospital for that and I might miss work because of this. What a shit show!</p><p>After making sure that there was no more damage in my body, not that I found, I started to evaluate the chances for me to make it out of this nasty situation. </p><p>The conclusion was, that the chance of me getting out alive was actually pretty good.</p><p>Remembering what Justin said to me at the parking lot, I started to put dots together. Apparently for some weird reason Justin was not taken care of when Raymond finished the business about the incident. With that, I made a mental note myself to roast Raymond about that later, if I could make it. It might easily be that his family did something to hide him, considering his parents were powerful, which I deducted from what Prime-Time said about him and Justin saying his parents were with Raymond’s boss at a ball.</p><p>So being the one that was overlooked, what did Justin want exactly?</p><p>Before knowing that I had sent the pictures, All Justin wanted was to erase them, and made me not tell Raymond somehow so he could get away with it. In that case I had less chance to live since only the dead would not talk. But then since that was out of the picture at the moment, all Justin wanted was to save himself not be punished as he was supposed to. Then I had more use to him being alive than dead. If he killed me, it would be of no help since his secret had already been discovered and he could not run away because his parents might know Raymond’s boss, and that in turn made him too traceable, so he would be punished anyway. But if he let me live and used me as his bargaining chip, there was a chance that he could get out of this. Because I could help him. I needed to make him believe that I had the impact on Raymond to let him get away with it. It would be a win-win.</p><p>Having that in mind, I had more confidence and was ready to start a heart-to-heart conversation with Justin, to talk some sense into him, or to at least buy me some time for Raymond or Coach to find me. I knew if I could not persuade Justin to let me go, Raymond would save me. I believed that. I had to.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, I looked up at Justin and almost felt sorry for him seeing him pacing in front of me, panicking.</p><p>“Hey Justin,” I called him, seeing him looking back at me with frenzied eyes, I tried my best not to be scared, and continued, “I can help you.”</p><p>Justin stopped pacing and turned to me.</p><p>“All you want is to get out of this. Not to have the consequences for what you did.” I reasoned, “and you might have a better chance getting away with it if you let me go.”</p><p>“How so?” Justin asked.</p><p>“Because…”</p><p>Just when I was about to lay down all the facts, we heard a huge bang from the opening of the container, and both of us got startled.</p><p>Along with a deafening squeak, the container was pried open. I shut my eyes as the flash lights shone inside on my face. I could hear people running and shouting. And all of a sudden I was knocked down and fell backwards. I felt my arms crushed behind me and screamed in pain, thinking “shit, now both of my arms are done”.</p><p>Out of pure rage and hurt, I opened my eyes and looked over to the source of noise right beside me, where I saw that Justin was pinned down by another two people, Ernie and Jim.</p><p>Relief and joy rushing through me, I felt tears oozing out of my eyes. I let out a trembling sigh and greeted them. </p><p>“Hey guys,” I smiled at them.</p><p>Jim, being Jim, only nodded with a straight face, whereas Ernie shone me a big smile and asked, “are you alright, Lucy?”</p><p>I was going to nod, but some one came between us and pulled me back up with the chair. I looked up, and through my tears saw that it was Raymond.</p><p>I had never seen him so panicky before, with his hair messed and eyes all crazed with worry and wrath. He looked at me up and down, panting, trying to see if I was hurt, and at the same time trying to calm himself down. He was cupping my face in his hands, carefully wiping away the tears from my eyes and the blood from my swollen lower lip. I had never felt his hands being so cold.</p><p>Seeing him like this, I suddenly no longer felt any pain in me. All I wanted was to comfort him.</p><p>“Hey, Raymond. How was the ball? I’ve never been to a ball before,” I said quietly as he was busy untying me from the chair. I sounded drunk. It could be that as I was suddenly relieved from the life-threatening crisis, and with all the adrenaline fading away, the exhaustion and fatigue took over and left me in a weird care-free, light-hearted mood, the same way I would be when I was tipsy.</p><p>Raymond did not answer me, but focused on releasing me from the binds. After him cutting the rope around my wrists, I flinched as he grabbed my hands.</p><p>“I think my left arm was dislocated.” I said to him, sobbing slightly. I did not want to cry, but that was my body reacting to pain. Not much I could do there.</p><p>Raymond looked down and took a deep breath. I felt that he was on the verge of breaking out. As if to prove my guess, Raymond stood up and turned to Justin, who was still pinned down by Ernie beside us. </p><p>I didn’t give a rat’s ass about Justin, but I did not want Raymond to turn into a monster and do something terrible. Involuntarily, I reached out my right hand and grabbed Raymond’s arm, and was pulled up from the chair as he charged at Justin.</p><p>Fortunately, Raymond had good reflax and turned back just in time to catch me in his arms before  I collapsed since I had no strength left in me to support my body. Falling in Raymond’s arms, I felt the last string of nerve left me, and blacked out.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Another chapter of healing fluff!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I woke up at Raymond’s house, in the same bed I had slept on for more than half of the time over the past month. I felt weak and exhausted. But knowing that I was finally safe, I felt relieved and let out a sigh and a small whimper, feeling the numbing sore in my ribs. Looking out the window, I saw the dim light and guessed that it was still early in the morning. But then when I looked on the other side, I saw the time on the clock and panicked.</p><p>It was past 4 o’clock in the afternoon, which meant that I had missed work for a whole day. I tried to get up and and look for my phone. But as a sharp pain stabbed me right in my ribs because I was an idiot and moved too fast, I yelped in pain and fell back to bed. At that same moment, I also found out that my left arm was in an air cast.</p><p>“Lucy, it’s okay. You’re safe now. Just rest.”</p><p>It was Raymond’s voice. I looked over to where his voice came from. He was sitting at the corner of the room, opposite to the bed, probably waiting for me to wake up. He was dressed in his iconic outfit, chic button-down shirt and tie with a comfy cardigan on top. And he looked in his normal way of being calm and majestic, like a lion king, completely opposite to the Raymond I saw last night. I felt happy to see him this way again and smiled at him feebly, watching him walk up to me and sit on the bed gingerly beside me.</p><p>“How do you feel?” Raymond lied down beside me, bracing himself on his elbow. He looked at me with soft eyes, and reached out his hand to my head, brushing strands away from my face and combing gently. Tentatively, he leaned in and kissed me on the forehead.</p><p>I closed my eyes and nodded, “much better now, with you. How are you doing?”</p><p>“Same.” Raymond said quietly.</p><p>“Can you help me find my phone? I need call my manager, tell her I had to take today off because I fell off stairs or something.” I said quietly, rolling my eyes at myself for coming up the dumb excuse.</p><p>“Don’t worry. I’ve called your manager for you. Told her you tripped on the street and fell, needed a day to recover.” Raymond said.</p><p>“Wow,” I squinted at him and raised my eyebrows, ”that actually sounds like something I would do,” I giggled, but stopped right away and made a face feeling the pain in my rib cage again.</p><p>“Also, your phone is gone, Lucy. I’m sorry.” Raymond said.</p><p>“What?” I frowned at him.</p><p>“It was stepped on when we got in and the screen was shattered, irreparable.” Raymond said and looked guilty.</p><p>“Oh, it’s okay.” I pouted with a shrug, trying to act like I did not care about the death of my friend that had been with me for over 5 years. Yeah, I know. I get emotionally attached to things that I probably should not have.</p><p>“I bought you a new one.” Raymond said, smiling tentatively.</p><p>“You didn’t have to,” I shook my head, ”it’s not your fault. And you already saved my life.” I said quietly, looking at him and hoping not to see him look guilty.</p><p>But he did. “You would not have been put in that situation, if not for me. It WAS my fault.” Raymond said, lowering his head.</p><p>“Right, speaking of which,” I said and moved my head closer to him so I could see his eyes, “I don’t want to make you feel worse than you already are, but you know if you had taken the photos when I offered you, we could have saved a lot of trouble.”</p><p>Raymond blinked at me, opened his mouth, but did not say anything. He nodded slightly in the end. Never had I thought that I would describe him as being adorable, but he was cute as hell at that moment.</p><p>“So friendly advice from me,” I smiled at him, trying to look as mischievous and playful as I could, “next time when a lady tries to give you a helping hand, take it.”</p><p>Raymond blinked at me a couple of times and finally nodded.</p><p>I chuckled and sighed, then shifted myself laboriously under the sheet, trying to get closer to him. But Raymond put his hand on my shoulder to stop me and moved close himself. He cradled my neck with one hand and put his arm underneath for me to rest my head on, and slowly and carefully pushed my back to make me lie on my right side and pulled me in his arms. I rested against his chest and closed my eyes.</p><p>“This is really nice.” I murmured.</p><p>“Is it?” Raymond asked in a whisper.</p><p>“Yeah. And Raymond,” I called him and looked up at him, waiting for him to look down and meet my eyes. Then seeing the guilt in his eyes as I was afraid of but also expected, I sighed and scolded, “stop that.”</p><p>“What?” Raymond frowned at me.</p><p>“Stop feeling sorry for me.” I said, pouting my lips, ignoring the wound on the corner of my mouth from last night. I added, “it was not your fault. You did not know.”</p><p>“You could have been killed.” Raymond said, and I could hear the hitch in his voice, and it broke my heart.</p><p>“No, I would not be,” I rolled my eyes, raised my brows at him, and tried to reason, “think about it, he needed me alive at that point. I already sent the photos to you, he was busted anyways. Better for him to keep me alive and use me to bargain with you.” I paused and thought about what I just said. I could not help but feel self-conscious, so I added, ”Well, but that would only work if he thought I meant something to you, otherwise…”</p><p>“You mean everything to me, Lucy.” Raymond said, cutting me off from spiralling the bad way.</p><p>“Oh,” I awed and widened my eyes at Raymond, not expecting to hear that from him at all, and stuttered, “oh-okay, good, good to know.”</p><p>I know, that was really lame, but I am never comfortable dealing with confessions, even when I was craving for validations from Raymond, dying to find signs of him having the same feelings as I did for him. At the same time, I never knew what to do with it if something like this happened. Hell, I never even thought I could hear him say this. So instead of facing it, acting like a normal human, and telling him how I truly felt, I did the ostrich act.</p><p>I quietly lowered my head and awkwardly buried my face in his chest. Smelling the fancy cologne from him and listening to his steady heartbeat, I felt that my heart was about to jump out of my throat.</p><p>“Lucy.”</p><p>I heard him calling my name, but refused to look up at him. I preferred my head-in-the-sand approach. But that did not last very long. Soon enough Raymond locked the tip of my chin between his thumb and index finger, and gently forced me to raise my head. I complied, but kept my eyes shut.</p><p>We stayed that way in silence. Nothing happened. Eventually I lost my patient and tentatively pried my left eye open. And at the exact moment, Raymond closed the gap and kissed me.</p><p>I had never felt so wanted and cherished like this by anyone. I was overwhelmed by the emotions in this kiss, in the way Raymond moved his lips, how he swiped the tip of his tongue in my mouth, and how his fingers caressed my chin and my neck. He pushed me closer to him with his hand on my back, almost crushing me into his body, but then immediately retreated as he realized that I had my painful left arm in the middle.</p><p>But being rushed by all the emotions we shared in this kiss, I wanted him stay close, to crush me, otherwise I was afraid that the emotions would crush me instead. Not caring at all how painful my arm was, I reached out my right hand to his back, pushing him and hurling myself to him.</p><p>“Lucy, stop. You’ll hurt yourself.” Raymond pulled back and whispered, panting. He put his hand on my shoulder, held me in place gently, trying to stop me and make me stay still.</p><p>“No, I don’t care,” I said in a trembling voice. I almost felt like crying, but tried not to and took a deep breath. I did not want to sound like I was begging something from him. But then did that really matter? All I wanted was him staying with me.</p><p>As if mirroring my thought, Raymond said in a whisper, “stay with me, Lucy.”</p><p>I looked up at him, feeling tears sliding down my temple, and answered, “I’m not going anywhere, Ray.”</p><p>“No, I mean stay, stay longer, longer than 3 months. Stay with me, Lucy,” Raymond said, resting his forehead against mine.</p><p>I looked up at him, no idea what to say. This might be the first time we ever talked about me leaving. And I knew that we would have to talk about this since we were inevitably getting closer and closer to the end, and the thought of leaving each other seemed harder and harder to bear. </p><p>And I had thought of staying. Oh god, I wish I could just stay. </p><p>But like everything else in my world, it was not that easy.</p><p>But at that moment, I was not ready to dive deep in that discussion, neither emotionally or physically. I just started recovering from the truama I went through the night before. I deserved a break!</p><p>I took a deep breath, and tried to act as light-hearted as I could manage.</p><p>“I would if I could. But,” I smiled at him, “I doubt that the British immigration department would love the idea of me staying after my visa expired. Certainly my company would not. Also I don’t like the idea of living as a refugee.” I tried to joke, “I’d make a hot one though, like some dainty petit maid you see, like the Japanese one from Madama Butterfly. But that show is kind of racist, and I will never be like that.”</p><p>“You are definitely not.” Raymond smiled back at me. He seemed to be amused by my snarly comment, but I could tell that the joy did not reach his eyes.</p><p>“Do you mind if we talk about this later?” I tried, “you know I’m still trying to recover from the incident from last night. One thing at a time. Be gentle on me.” I batted my eyes at him, then shone him a mischievous smirk as I added, “we can play it rough later if you want.”</p><p>Raymond huffed and scoffed, before he went in and kissed me again.</p><p>We cuddled in silence for a while, listening to the chirping of birds outside the window and the low humming sound of all the white noise around us. It was so nice just to be here with Raymond. I was cherishing every second, hoping secretly that time would just stop at this moment. So we could stay this forever, together forever.</p><p>But my brain disagreed. Eventually my brain woke up fully and started to work inevitably and unnecissarily. And then of course the curiosity about what happened to Justin kicked in.</p><p>“By the way, just curious,” I said and looked up to Raymond, “what happened to Justin? It’s okay if you can’t tell me though.”</p><p>“His parents had business with us, farming one of our biggest sites. It was really stupid for him to raid his own parents in the first place,” Raymond said apathetically.</p><p>I was going to ask him what farm, but then I used some deductions and guessed he meant pot.</p><p>“Anyways, chap was sent home, and his parents took the responsibilities. We withdrew business from them. Lesson learnt the hard way. But what can I say? Do not leave your little cunts running around free-range, thinking they could take over the world.” Raymond said and nudged his chin on the top of my head.</p><p>I was about to send my pretentious condolences, but Raymond spoke again.</p><p>“I don’t really give a shit about business or little cunts like him.” Raymond said, and I could almost taste the venom in his voice, “but he should never have laid hands on you. For that, the debt will never be paid off.”</p><p>I could not help but shiver at Raymond’s remark, and instantly felt bad for Justin and his boss. I know that I was the victim so I should not feel bad, and I also do love the taste of revenge. However, I still hate to cause turmoils and chaos. Also I hate the thought of Raymond having to ask his boss to punish someone for me. I would never want him to owe anyone anything.</p><p>“Sorry for causing the all the trouble,” I said meekly.</p><p>Raymond frowned and looked down at me, “no, don’t be. You did not cause anything.” </p><p>I did not know what to say, so I just smiled awkwardly, then lowered my head and shrugged.</p><p>After a few seconds of silence, I looked up at him again and saw the look in his eyes softened as he reached out his right hand to cup my cheek in his palm, his thumb rubbing my lower lip gently. </p><p>Raymond said softly, “I only wish it could all be done faster than this.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” I asked him in confusion, no idea what he was talking about. Instead of answering me, Raymond went in and kissed me again. I wanted to ask him again, but with his teeth very tenderly grinding my lower lip, sending itch and sparkles down my spine, I was very distracted. Then all I wanted was to melt agains him and get down to business.</p><p>However, my left arm disagreed. As I tried to rub myself against Raymond, I unintentionally bumped my air-casted arm on his chest. Feeling the sharp pang in my shoulder, I pulled back from our kiss and let out a muffled moan, involuntarily grasping Raymond’s arm, trying to shift the pain somehow.</p><p>“Sorry, did not mean to grab you like that,” I apologized between hisses.</p><p>“It’s all right.” Raymond did not seem to be bothered at all, and just gazed at me with worried eyes, "are you alright?”</p><p>“Yeah,” I nodded hurriedly, not being very persuasive, “I will be. Probably not now. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Why do you keep apologizing?” Raymond asked me, frowning.</p><p>Finally feeling the pain relieved, I smiled at him and replied, “I got a bit Canadian after living there for several years.”</p><p>“All right.” Raymond smiled.</p><p>Finally seeing him lightened up, I almost felt no pain at all. I leaned in and tried to keep as close as I could to Raymond and at the same time be careful not to mess with my arm again. I rested my head against his chest and closed my eyes.</p><p>“Raymond,” I called him quietly.</p><p>“Hmm?” Raymond hummed as a reply.</p><p>“Ray?” I called him again.</p><p>I did not know why I called him, but I just wanted to. It just made me feel safe and in comfort. So I did it again.</p><p>“Ray?”</p><p>This time, Raymond didn’t answer, but tightened his arms around me and lowered his head to rub his chin on my neck. I was tickled by his beard, laughing and wiggling, trying to dodge him. Eventually Raymond stopped and just held me until I stopped panting.  </p><p>We did not say anything, but just held each other and stayed close. Eventually I felt another rush of fatigue and felt it harder and harder to keep my eyes open. So I let the weariness take over, and fell back into a deep slumber.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! And please leave a comment! Let me know what you think!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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